RARα polymerase chain reaction (PCR) monitoring and safety in elderly patients with de novo acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) who were treated with either arsenic trioxide (As2O3) or medium-dose cytosine arabinoside (MiDAC) as frontline consolidation regimens. A total of 167 patients (age ?5?years old) received all-trans retinoic acid?+?daunorubicin as induction therapy. Of these patients, 22 died before attaining complete remission; the remaining 145 subjects received MiDAC- or As2O3-based consolidation therapy. As2O3 was superior to MiDAC for improving DFS and OS. This benefit appeared to result from the longer 5-year DFS (92.0 vs. 69.1?%, P?P?2O3 compared to MiDAC. PCR monitoring demonstrated that As2O3 promoted a lower positive rate than MiDAC (21.7 vs. 4.5?%, P?9/L (85.7?%), leukocyte counts 9/L (81.4?%) and severe infection (84.3?%). In contrast, the As2O3 regimen rarely caused leukocyte counts 9/L (22.7?%, P?9/L (37.3?%, P?P?2O3." />