Imatinib Therapy in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Review

The current aim for CML disease management in the TKI era is to provide age- and sex-matched normal life duration to CML patients. Despite the excellent outcome, many patients fail to treatment, with many of them requiring a third or even further lines of therapy. When selecting for such patients, it is essential to distinguish between failure and intolerance to previous TKIs To date more than 40 mutations have been identified and their early detection is important for clinical treatment. With the development of the new tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), associated with these mutations, the resistance problem seems to diminish, as some of the new drugs are less prone to resistance. The introduction of imatinib opened up different treatment perspectives in CML. For the patients resistant or intolerant to imatinib, second- and third-generation TKIs are successfully used in distinct CML disease states. TKI-related adverse events could impact the clinical course, especially in long-term drug administrations. The current article reviews the different aspects of imatinib therapy in CML patients.