Untreated acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) is a rapidly lethal blood cancer. Conventional treatment consists of all-trans retinoic acid and chemotherapy. Standard chemo-therapy-containing treatments necessitate the use of blood products. This is a case report of typical APL in a 32-year-old female patient, who due to religious conviction refused supportive therapy with blood products. A treatment regimen consisting of all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide was successful without the use of blood transfusions.