title: Blast phase in chronic myelogenous leukemia is skewed toward unusual blast types in patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors: a comparative study of 67 cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the features of the blast phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with those in the pre-TKI era.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-seven patients with blast phase CML were identified in the Duke Pathology database from 1991 to 2011. The morphology and immunophenotype of blasts were evaluated, along with cytogenetic studies and associated findings in the peripheral blood and bone marrow.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the TKI era, the blasts were more frequently of a type other than the usual myeloid or lymphoid types when compared with the pre-TKI era. Blast phase in TKI-treated patients was associated with a higher peripheral WBC count and a lower blast percentage in the bone marrow. Of the 23 patients with cytogenetic studies during blast phase, additional cytogenetic changes more frequently occurred in patients with an unusual blast type, and some patients showed these changes months before the onset of blast phase.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blast phase CML in TKI- and non-TKI-treated patients differs in the morphology and immunophenotype of blasts, cytogenetic findings, and associated findings in the peripheral blood and bone marrow.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Pathology and.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Pathology and.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rand
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Pathology and.
authors.forename: Jennifer H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Crow
authors.affiliation: Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Joseph O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Pathology and anand.lagoo@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Anand S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Lagoo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D020732:Cytogenetic Analysis / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors
keywords: Blast phase; Chronic myelogenous leukemia; Cytogenetics; Tyrosine kinase inhibitor