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French STIM 2 trial

Some of you may remember that I stopped taking my Glivec as part of the French STIM 2 trial in May 2011.
I am pleased I get to stay off Glivec for at least 2 more months; latest PCR 0.006 (between 4,5 & 5 log reduction)!
I was tested monthly for the first year & am now being tested every two months.
I will stay off all medication for as long as I maintain my MMR.
Since stopping I've had quite a few negative results ponctuated with low positives like this one.
I'm posting this to give hope to CML patients & to say that if you take your medication properly & manage to get to CMR then one day you might be able to stop your drug too.
Best wishes,
Barbara

Dear Barbara, thank you for posting this very positive news on this forum. I am sure it will give many of us hope for a future of TFS (treatment free survival) in spite of low levels of molecular disease.

Many congratulations,
Sandy

Thank you Barbara for your posting. I thought of you when I read these new articles about STIM (STop IMatinib)


 


Model-based decision rules reduce the risk of molecular relapse after cessation of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in chronic myeloid leukemia


 


Activation Levels of Natural Killer Cells and CD8+ T Cells Correlate Highly with Sustained Complete Molecular Response After Discontinuation of Imatinib in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients


 


Early Molecular Response and Female Sex Strongly Predict Achievement of Stable Undetectable BCR-ABL1, a Criterion for Imatinib Discontinuation in Patients with CML


 


I hope that you are well and you will continue to have good results.


Gilles


 

I am copying a portion of Des' post below on the Travel Ins thread as it also contains an update on her experience with stopping therapy.....

From Des:
".....For those newbies, just diagnosed and wondering where life is heading, I was diagnosed April 2003, achieved MMR within 6 months and have been almost undetectable since then. I have been medication free for almost 4 years now, so hang in there, there may seem a lot of clouds ahead, , but cml is like being in an aeroplane, get through the clouds and it can be blue skies all the way. Hang in there"