Comparison of Two Treatments in Intermediate and High-risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) Patients to Assess Efficacy in 1st Hematological Complete Remission and Molecular Remission

Inclusion criteria: 1. Patients with untreated newly diagnosed and genetically proven APL (leukemic cells at diagnosis with the t(15;17) and/or the PML/RARα rearrangement by RT-PCR; the presence of additional cytogenetic lesions is not considered an exclusion criterion) with intermediate and high risk disease. 2. Male and female patients age \> 18 years and \< 61 years. Exclusion criteria: 1. Low risk patients (WBC \< 10 x 109/L and platelets \> 40 x 109/L). 2. Absence of PML-RAR α rearrangement in leukemic cells after successful RNA extraction and amplification of control gene. 3. Pretreated APL.