Re: RES: Leukemia Patients Taking Gleevec Achieve 'Normal' Death Rate - Study Finds

[Guest guest]

Another article from NCI:

Imatinib for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: The Impact of Its Effectiveness and

Long-term Side Effects

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/03/21/jnci.djr0\

73.full?sid=7959b2c9-29e3-4af9-8dbe-231be2fe49e1

Other link: http://www.cmleukemia.com/english.html

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> Always is good heard news like that, it´s so encouraged.

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> Ciro.

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> De: [mailto: ] Em nome de Wayne

> Mielke

> Enviada em: quarta-feira, 23 de março de 2011 09:37

> Para:

> Assunto: [ ] Leukemia Patients Taking Gleevec Achieve 'Normal' Death

> Rate - Study Finds

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> Leukemia Patients Taking Gleevec Achieve 'Normal' Death Rate

> Study finds they die no faster than people in the general population

> -- PreidtTUESDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- The death rate of

> patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who took Gleevec and were in

> remission two years after treatment was similar to the death rate in the

> general population, a new study shows.

> Italian researchers collected data on 832 patients who were taking Gleevec

> (imatinib) for up to eight years and found that 20 patients died during the

> follow-up period. That death rate of 4.8 percent, however, is similar to

> what would be expected in the general population.

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> Only six deaths were related to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the

> researchers noted.

> Serious adverse events such as cardiovascular and digestive problems were

> reported in 139 patents, but only 27 cases (19 percent) were considered to

> be related to Gleevec, according to the study.

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> Other adverse events frequently connected to Gleevec included muscle cramps,

> weakness, edema, skin fragility, diarrhea, and tendon or ligament lesions.

> Nineteen patients (2.3 percent) stopped taking Gleevec due to side effects,

> with half switching to another drug.

> Patients taking Gleevec " frequently suffer from side effects that are

> non-serious but can nonetheless reduce their quality of life, " the

> researchers wrote.

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> The study authors disclosed no conflicts of interest, noting that their

> independence from pharmaceutical interests was a major strength of the

> study.

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> The researchers also noted the " importance of a good patient-provider

> relationship, in which side effects are easily communicated and addressed to

> reduce/avoid non-compliance. "

> In an accompanying editorial, Dr. B. of the Sidney Kimmel

> Comprehensive Cancer Center at s Hopkins in Baltimore, noted " the

> astounding effect [imatinib] has had on the clinical course of this

> disease. "

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> However, he wrote that many patients in the study had been treated first

> with interferon, which may have been a factor in their remissions. For this

> reason, he concluded, " a careful analysis of the two groups " -- patients who

> had taken interferon and those who had not -- " might help shed light on this

> issue. "

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> The study appears online March 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer

> Institute.

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