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

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

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De: [mailto: ] Em nome de Wayne

Mielke

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

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

Rate - Study Finds

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.

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.

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.

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

independence from pharmaceutical interests was a major strength of the

study.

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. "

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. "

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

Institute.