Summaries of Must-Read Clinical Literature, Guidelines, and FDA Actions

Mortality and Vascular Events in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Are tyrosine-kinase inhibitors a risk factor?

Publish date:: February 17, 2016

Elderly patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) had higher mortality and higher rates of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, pulmonary embolism (PE), and peripheral artery disease (PAD) than noncancer patients. This according to a study of 1,466 patients with CML and an equal number of matched controls without cancer (median age 78 years). Researchers found:

Compared to noncancer patients, the cohort with CML had higher mortality (63% vs 23% died during 12 months of follow-up), shorter median survival (23 months vs > 84 months), and higher rates of MI (33.0 vs 11.9 per 1,000 person-years), stroke (83.2 vs 43.0), PE (6.6 vs 2.6), and PAD (92 vs 59).

Among the 15% of patients with TKI claims, 97% received imatinib.

Event rates were not elevated for TKI-treated patients vs overall patients with CML.

Citation: Lang K, McGarry L, Huang H, Dorer D, Kaufman E, Knopf K. Mortality and vascular events among elderly patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): A retrospective analysis of linked Seer-Medicare data. [Published online ahead of print February 5, 2016]. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. doi: 10.1016/j.clml.2016.01.006.

This Week's Must Reads

Younger adults present with more advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma,

PDAC: Tumor reduction after neoadjuvant therapy may predict postsurgical survival,

Mortality risks rise with age, infections, but not inhibitor status in persons with non-severe hemophilia A,

‘Impressive’ local control with MRI-guided brachytherapy in cervical cancer,

U.S. mothers underestimate role breastfeeding plays in curbing breast cancer,

Must Reads in CML

Survey quantifies COVID-19’s impact on oncology,

Baseline gene expression predicts TKI response in CML,

Inotuzumab/bosutinib treat R/R Ph+ ALL, CML in blast phase,

Complementary medicine use common among patients on TKIs,

Treatment-free remission in CML, Mahon FX et al. Ann Intern Med. 2018 Feb 20. doi: 10.7326/M17-1094.