Sudden Blast Crisis After Excellent Initial Response in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Sudden blast crisis is an uncommon phenomenon in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients who are being treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Despite well-defined guidelines to treat and monitor the disease, it is difficult to predict the occurrence of a sudden blast crisis. Research directed towards improving guidelines in choosing the appropriate TKIs and better monitoring protocols could help prevent such unfortunate outcomes. We present a case of a 46-year-old man diagnosed with CML who responded well to imatinib as evidenced by a downtrend in quantitative BCR-ABL mutation to less than 1. He quickly transformed into a blast crisis phase after five months of therapy with imatinib regardless of achieving an excellent initial optimal response. In conclusion, it is possible to transform into a blast phase despite achieving an initial optimal response. Therefore, attention should be focused on the selection of proper tyrosine kinase inhibitors and careful monitoring to allow the early detection of sudden blast crisis.