[Pregnancy and myeloid leukemia treated with imatinib. Development and monitoring of a patient]

Imatinib has changed the natural history of chronic myeloid leukemia. There are women with chronic myeloid leukemia in reproductive age with pregnancy desires. The aim of this case was to report the course and outcome of pregnancy in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia diagnosis treated with imatinib.

A 32 year old female with diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia with follow-up of 11 years. She received standard treatment, but she reported poor adherence; therefore, she received imatinib therapy two years after the diagnosis. The patient stopped the treatment herself because she was looking to be pregnant. She presented amenorrhea, which lasted for six weeks; pregnancy was confirmed. During a period of 10 months, she remained untreated and there were no symptoms of leukemia progression. The pregnancy was terminated by cesarean section at 35.5 weeks of gestation. The product was born healthy. In the post-cesarean visit, the lab showed a cell blood count which reported: hemoglobin 8.7 g/dL, hematocrit 25 %, white blood cell 22,000/mL, platelets 170,000/mL. Since October the patient resumed imatinib 600 mg/day.

The prolonged period of treatment with imatinib had no effect on the pregnancy and the product. The molecular monitoring showed the need to reinstall the treatment once the pregnancy finished. The efficacy and safety of treatment allows patients to fulfill life projects that seemed distant in other time.