Central nervous system blastic crisis in chronic myeloid leukemia on imatinib mesylate therapy: a case report

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder characterized by a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22. Imatinib mesylate is a potent and selective inhibitory of the BCR/ABL tyrosine kinase. Imatinib is a first choice of treatment of chronic phase CML. It has also shown activity in patients with CML in accelerated or blastic phases. However, the penetration of the drug and its active metabolites into the central nervous system (CNS) is poor. Therefore, the CNS is sanctuary site for malignant cells in patients treated with imatinib. Herein, we report a patient with CML in accelerated phase that developed central nervous system disease while on imatinib mesylate therapy.