Key clinical point: In patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP), imatinib treatment for at least 6 years and molecular response 4 (MR4) duration of a minimum of 4.5 years may be optimal for higher treatment-free remission (TFR) success after imatinib discontinuation.
Major finding: Patients with imatinib treatment duration of 6 years or more vs. less than 6 years (61.8% vs. 36.0%; P = .01) and those with MR4 duration of 4.5 years or longer vs. less than 4.5 years (64.2% vs. 41.9%; P = .003) had a superior molecular relapse-free survival at 12 months after imatinib discontinuation.
Study details: This prospective study reported findings from the TRAD study including 131 patients with CML-CP. Patients were treated with imatinib for at least 3 years (range, 3.0-17.5 years) and had a minimum of 2 years of MR4 or deeper response (range, 2.0-15.8 years) before imatinib discontinuation.
Disclosures: This study was supported by BMS Canada and the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. The lead author reported research funding from BMS and Novartis.
Source: Kim DDH et al. Br J Haematol. 2021 Apr 20. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17447 .