Renal artery stenosis following nilotinib administration in a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia

A 63-year-old male was diagnosed as having chronic phase CML in 2001. He obtained a major molecular response with imatinib (IM). In 2012, amulodipin was started for hypertension. In January 2013, IM was switched to nilotinib (NIL) in a clinical trial, and in February 2015, NIL was discontinued because MR^4.5 had been maintained for two years. One month later, he was admitted to our hospital because of headache and high blood pressure (194/108 mmHg). His urine test showed protein 3+ and occult blood 2+. His eGFR rapidly deteriorated from 45.6 to 28.5 after admission. MR angiography showed left renal artery stenosis. He thus underwent angioplasty of the left renal artery with a stent implantation. His renal function subsequently improved. Cardiovascular events such as PAOD (peripheral artery occlusive disease) during NIL treatment were recently reported. However, to date, only four cases including our present patient with renal artery stenosis associated with NIL have been reported. These observations suggest assessment of risk factors for cardiovascular events at the start of NIL and careful monitoring to be important during tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment of CML patients.