Only 42% of institutions that treat acute leukemia patients and 31% of hospitals overall in the United States have immediate access to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), the backbone of early treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia patients, a new survey shows.
The results are “shocking and sobering,” noted James Mangan, MD, PhD, an associate clinical professor of medicine at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, in a press release.
The survey findings help