njh219

Probably the best AMA response I've ever seen.

Likely an acoustic neuroma. And yes, if a patient has sudden sensori-neural hearing loss at a young age, you should probably get an MRI with contrast.

APML is the “best” leukemia to get. Treatment has been so refined over the past decade that cure is achieved in over 95% of cases and about half of patients completely avoid what is thought of as conventional chemotherapy! The mainstay of treatment is a vitamin A derivative that teaches the cancer cells to turn back into normal cells. Amazing!

Not quite. ATRA is an inactivated form of vitamin A that cells can’t use. The thought was that it would interfere with metabolism in tumors. Didn’t pan out in 99% of cancers, but works amazingly well in PML-RARA associated cancers (APML is one). Source- am oncologist.

It isn’t quite the same; it’s an isomer. The relevance here is that it removes the “differentiation” blockade that keeps the leukemia cells in a cancerous form. When it is given it allows the cancer cells to turn back into a normal cell wherein they promptly die.