Managing chronic myeloid leukaemia in the elderly with intermittent imatinib treatment

Managing chronic myeloid leukaemia in the elderly with intermittent imatinib treatment

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a non-standard, intermittent imatinib treatment in elderly patients with Philadelphia-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia and to answer the question on which dose should be used once a stable optimal response has been achieved. Seventy-six patients aged ⩾65 years in optimal and stable response with ⩾2 years of standard imatinib treatment we...

Tuberculosis complicating imatinib treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia.

Although imatinib is not considered a predisposing factor for tuberculosis (TB), the present case report describes three patients in whom imatinib treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia was complicated by TB. This raises the question of whether imatinib increases susceptibility to TB. There are several reports suggesting that imatinib might impair the immune system, leading to a variety of inf...

Imatinib or transplant for chronic myeloid leukaemia?

countries that can define their priorities convincingly (but do not have large populations of poor people), funding for corrupt and dictatorial governments that have little regard for their poorest citizens, and the enormous waste of the limited talents of many developing countries that have been spent on inventing new approaches to developing competitive proposals to satisfy yet another under-...

Imatinib mesylate therapy in chronic myeloid leukaemia: the floodgates opened.

Imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia elderly patients

Leukemia (CML) reported in clinical trials is generally of 50-55 years; it is higher (more than 60 years) in epidemiologic registries and in observational studies [1]. Therefore, a significant proportion of CML patients are " elderly " , according to the most widely accepted definition of " old person " (age > 65 years). Prior to imatinib (IM) introduction, an orally taken tyrosine kinase inhib...