Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research (Jun 2010)

Positive response to imatinib mesylate therapy for childhood chronic myeloid leukemia

  • G.A.P. Oliveira,
  • E.S. Costa,
  • M.S. Freitas,
  • F.F. Dutra,
  • S.F. Maia,
  • M.C. Guerra,
  • M.D. Tabernero,
  • R. Borojevic,
  • I.B. Otazu,
  • J.L. Silva

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43, no. 6
pp. 580 – 584

Abstract

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Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is rare in the pediatric population, accounting for 2-3% of childhood leukemia cases, with an annual incidence of one case per million children. The low toxicity profile of imatinib mesylate has led to its approval as a front-line therapy in children for whom interferon treatment has failed or who have relapsed after allogeneic transplantation. We describe the positive responses of 2 children (case 1 - from a 7-year-old male since May 2005; case 2 - from a 5-year-old female since June 2006) with Philadelphia-positive chromosome CML treated with imatinib (300 mg/day, orally) for up to 28 months, as evaluated by morphological, cytogenetic, and molecular approaches. Our patients are alive, are in the chronic phase, and are in continuous morphological complete remission.

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