Monitoring disease response in chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia: the age of molecular assays? David T. Yeung 1-3 and Susan Branford 1,3

Yeung 1-3 and Susan Branford 1,3

1Department of Molecular Pathology and Centre for Cancer Biology, and 2 Department of Haematology,SA Pathology, Adelaide, Australia; and
3Department of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

An 80-year-old man has newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia. His BM and blood examination at diagnosis
confirms chronic-phase disease, with the Philadelphia chromosome as the sole cytogenetic abnormality. He has
intermediate Sokal and Hasford risk,1
and is started on imatinib 600 mg once daily. He lives 5 hours away from the
nearest specialist hematology service and prefers followup with his local physician, who cannot perform BM
examinations. In patients such as this, is it acceptable to monitor his therapeutic response solely with molecular
studies of his peripheral blood?

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