CML Response to Glivec 3.1 How quickly will a patient respond to Glivec?
• Most patients respond to Glivec very quickly. • Overall risk of progression to advanced phase is low and is associated with the degree of response, regardless of when achieved. • Achievement of CCyR at 24 months resulted in similar levels of protection from progression to accelerated phase or blast crisis phases at 60 months as a CCyR achieved at 12 or 18 months. • Patients who achieved either CCyR or PCyR within the first 24 months of imatinib therapy have a high rate of survival without progression to accelerated phase or blast crisis phases compared with patients without a cytogenetic response at 60 months • Criteria to determine optimal management of CML with Glivec therapy based on specified time points in which responses are achieved have been proposed by an expert panel8.
