Long-term outcomes of patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia who commenced treatment with imatinib: a 20-year single-centre experience

We report on long-term outcomes of 267 patients (pts) with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treated with imatinib administered as initial therapy. The median follow-up time was 11.4 years. 38 (14.2%) pts attempted to discontinue imatinib therapy after achieving sustained deep molecular response (>= MR4), 15 of them achieved treatment-free remission (TFR). 144 pts (53.9%) have been switched to other TKI during the follow-up period. The estimated OS for 267 pts for 10, 15 and 18 years was 98.8%, 75.6% and 52.1%. According to prognostic scores (Sokal, Euro, ELTS), OS and PFS were significantly better in low-risk pts than in high-risk pts. According to ELTS, low-risk pts have a better chance of achieving MR4 than both intermediate (p = 0.03) and high-risk (p = 0.04) groups. It suggests that a specific ELTS-adapted treatment could help to optimize treatment results. In the study population, imatinib has demonstrated sustained efficacy and an acceptable rate of late toxic effects.