Sudden death due to undiagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia: a case report.
Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is associated with severe hemorrhagic coagulopathy induced by the release of procoagulant, plasminogen, and protease from leukemic cells. The case described in this report is of a 15-year-old male who unexpectedly died due to a cerebral hemorrhage caused by underlying APL within 12 h after presentation. This case suggests that underlying APL should be considered as a differential diagnosis when sudden death occurs with a fatal spontaneous hemorrhage, although it is rare.
Sakai
Kentaro
K
Department of Legal Medicine, Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. kentaro.sakai@jikei.ac.jp
Takatsu
Akihiro
A
Shigeta
Akio
A
Abe
Shuntaro
S
Ikegami
Masahiro
M
Takagi
Keizo
K
D000293:Adolescent; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male