Successful treatment with imatinib mesylate of a CML patient in megakaryoblastic crisis with severe fibrosis.
The prognosis of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in blastic crisis (CML-BC) remains extremely poor, and multiagent chemotherapy regimens commonly used to treat acute leukemia offer only short-term benefits. Therefore, the advent of the novel molecularly targeted anticancer agent imatinib mesylate is a breakthrough in CML therapy. We present a CML patient in megakaryoblastic crisis with severe myelofibrosis, who was treated with imatinib at a dosage of 400 mg/day and achieved complete remission together with a marked regression of myelofibrosis after 1 month. The effect of imatinib on the long-term prognosis remains unclear, although the agent is clearly a promising drug for treating CML-BC even in cases of myelofibrosis.
Hirose
Yuka
Y
Department of Infectious Diseases, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Kiyoi
Hitoshi
H
Iwai
Masanori
M
Yokozawa
Toshiya
T
Ito
Masafumi
M
Naoe
Tomoki
T
D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001549:Benzamides; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000473:pathology; D010879:Piperazines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D055728:Primary Myelofibrosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001549:Benzamides; D010879:Piperazines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate