AimsWe aimed to investigate whether older age leads to limitations in the starting dose of imatinib in daily treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, and to determine the compliance of elderly patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) therapy.
MethodsData including the clinical characteristics, therapeutic outcomes and compliance with TKI therapy of elderly patients with chronic myeloid leukemia aged >65years were collected from 13 institutions in Turkey, retrospectively.
ResultsA total of 69 patients (27 [39%] men, 42 [61%] women) were evaluated retrospectively. The median age of the patients was 71years (range 66-85years). Of the patients, 66 (96%) were in the chronic phase and three (4.3%) were in the accelerated phase when diagnosed. A total of 63 (91.3%) patients were receiving imatinib as the first-line therapy. The initial dose of imatinib was 400mg/day in 59 patients (93.6%). Imatinib treatment induced 57 (90.5%) complete hematological responses at 3months, 29 (46%) complete cytogenetic responses at 6months and 49 (77.7%) major molecular responses at 12months. As a result, nilotinib and dasatinib were used in 14 patients as second-line therapy. Second-line TKI induced nine complete hematological responses (64.3%) at 3months, four complete cytogenetic responses (28.6%) at 12months and seven major molecular responses (50%) at 18months. A total of 56 of the patients (81.2%) are still alive. The median overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 35months (range 1-95months) and 17months (range 0.8-95months), respectively.
ConclusionElderly patients should receive TKI according to the same guidelines that apply to younger patients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; 15: 729-735.
C1 [Korkmaz, Serdal] Kayseri Educ & Res Hosp, Div Hematol, TR-38100 Kayseri, Turkey.
[Pala, Cigdem] Erciyes Univ, Dept Hematol, Kayseri, Turkey.
[Dal, Mehmet Sinan; Ayyildiz, Orhan] Dicle Univ, Dept Hematol, Diyarbakir, Turkey.
[Berber, Ilhami; Nizam, Ilknur] Inonu Univ, Dept Hematol, Malatya, Turkey.
[Sahin, Deniz Goren; Akay, Olga Meltem] Osmangazi Univ, Dept Hematol, Eskisehir, Turkey.
[Dogu, Mehmet Hilmi; Hacioglu, Sibel] Pamukkale Univ, Dept Hematol, Denizli, Turkey.
[Albayrak, Murat] Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Educ & Res Hosp, Dept Hematol, Ankara, Turkey.
[Namdaroglu, Sinem] Ankara Oncol Educ & Res Hosp, Dept Hematol, Ankara, Turkey.
[Ilhan, Osman] Ankara Univ, Dept Hematol, Ibni Sina Hosp, TR-06100 Ankara, Turkey.
[Esen, Ramazan] Yuzuncu Yil Univ, Dept Hematol, Van, Turkey.
[Sencan, Mehmet] Cumhuriyet Univ, Dept Hematol, Sivas, Turkey.
[Yildirim, Rahsan] Ataturk Univ, Dept Hematol, Erzurum, Turkey.
[Eser, Ali] Marmara Univ, Dept Hematol, Istanbul, Turkey.
[Tombak, Anil] Mersin Univ, Dept Hematol, Mersin, Turkey.