Successful pregnancy in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia under treatment with imatinib

Motohiro Tsuzuki1, Youko Inaguma, Kousuke Handa

  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Fujita Health University, School of Medicine, Toyoake. mtsuzuki@fujita-hu.ac.jp

Contraception is recommended during imatinib therapy based on the teratogenicity data in rats. However, patients may become pregnant and here we describe a successful pregnancy and labor without any congenital anomaly in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) under treatment with imatinib. The patient had received imatinib for 53 months before she became pregnant, with a complete cytogenetic response achieved after 6 months of therapy and a major molecular response (MMR) after 28 months. CML was in MMR at discovery of pregnancy and the fetus had been exposed to imatinib for 5 weeks. Treatment was discontinued, but MMR persisted during gestation.

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