These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Initial treatment for patients with CML.
    Author: Goldman JM.
    Journal: Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program; 2009; ():453-60. PubMed ID: 20008231.
    Abstract:
    For adult patients who present with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase it is now generally agreed that initial treatment should start with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) imatinib at 400 mg daily. Five years after starting imatinib about 60% of these patients will be in complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), still taking imatinib; an appreciable proportion of these will have achieved a major molecular response, defined as a 3-log reduction in the level of BCR-ABL1 transcripts in their blood. The patients in CCyR seem to have a very low risk of relapse to chronic phase or of progression to advanced phase. Other patients may be resistant to imatinib or may experience significant side effects that require change of therapy. The best method of monitoring responding patients is to enumerate Philadelphia chromosome-positive marrow metaphases at 3-month intervals until CCyR and to perform RQ-PCR for BCR-ABL1 transcripts at 3-month intervals after starting imatinib. The recommendations for defining "failure" and "sub-optimal response" proposed by the European LeukemiaNet in 2006 have proved to be a major contribution to assessing responses in individual patients and are now being updated. Patients who fail imatinib may respond to second-generation TKIs, but allogeneic stem cell transplantation still plays an important role for eligible patients who fare badly with TKIs. Patients who present in advanced phases of CML should be treated initially with TKI alone or with TKI in conjunction with cytotoxic drugs, but their overall prognosis is likely to be much inferior to that of those presenting in early chronic phase.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]