• J A E Somers, S O A Shamelian, B Löwenberg, G J Ossenkoppele, and J J Cornelissen.
• Erasmus Medisch Centrum-Daniel den Hoed Kliniek, afd. Hematologie, Groene Hilledijk 301, 3075 EA Rotterdam.
• Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2002 Jan 19; 146 (3): 128-32.

AbstractThree patients suffering from chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), a 36-year-old woman in blast crisis, and a 64-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man in the chronic phase, participated in a clinical trial with STI571, a recently developed tyrosine kinase inhibitor with relative specificity for the BCR-ABL kinase. In all three patients, complete haematologic remission occurred within 2 months of the treatment being initiated. Subsequently the patient in blast crisis underwent allogeneic stem-cell transplantation. For the second patient, who had experienced many side effects with the standard treatment, STI571 led to a better quality of life. The third patient reached complete cytogenetic remission after 3 months of treatment. The development of STI571 is a major breakthrough in the treatment of CML. There are few side effects and the short-term results are excellent in specific patient categories. Further research is needed to establish the eventual role of STI571 in the treatment of CML.

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