Reframing chronic myeloid leukemia outcomes beyond survival: a perspective of quality of life and patient-centered...

The introduction and refinement of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) over the past 25 years have resulted in dramatic improvements in life expectancy in individuals with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). There are now multiple effective and well-tolerated TKIs available, and because most patients will be receiving TKIs for their lifetime, quality-of-life (QoL) considerations are an increasing concern. Patients with CML receiving TKIs have worse QoL than the general population, but TKIs have a generally less negative impact on QoL factors than previously available treatments for CML. Commonly used TKIs (imatinib, nilotinib, dasatinib, bosutinib, ponatinib, asciminib, and olverembatinib) all have positive and negative impacts on QoL, each of which can be impacted by patient preference and priorities, as well as line of therapy. The inclusion of patient-reported QoL outcomes in clinical trials will be vital to helping physicians understand the patient experience of CML and thereby improve disease management.