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Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal hematopoietic myeloproliferative stem cell neoplasm. The disease is driven by the BCR/ABL1 chimeric gene that codes for a constitutively active tyrosine kinase, resulting from a reciprocal balanced translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22, t(9;22)(q34.1;q11.2), known as the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) (Fig. 105-1). Untreated, the course of CML is typically biphasic or triphasic, with an early indolent or chronic phase, followed often by an accelerated phase and a terminal blastic phase. Before the era of BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the median survival in CML was 3–7 years, and the 10-year survival rate was 30% or less. Introduced into standard CML therapy in 2000, TKIs have revolutionized the treatment, natural history, and prognosis of CML. Today, the estimated 10-year survival rate with imatinib mesylate, the first BCR-ABL1 TKI approved, is greater than 85% and approaches that of the general population. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), a curative approach but one that involves more risks, is now offered as second- or third-line therapy after failure of TKIs.
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INCIDENCE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
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CML accounts for ∼15% of all cases of leukemia. There is a slight male predominance (male-to-female ratio 1.6:1). The median age at diagnosis is 55–65 years. It is uncommon in children; only 3% of patients with CML are younger than 20 years, although in recent years, a higher proportion of young patients are diagnosed. The incidence of CML increases gradually with age, with a steeper increase after the age of 40–50 years. The annual incidence of CML is 1.6 cases per 100,000 individuals. In the United States, this translates into about 8500–9000 new cases per year. The incidence of CML has not changed over several decades. By extrapolation, the worldwide annual incidence of CML is about 200,000 cases. With a median survival of 3–6 years before 2000, the disease prevalence in the United States was ~30,000 cases. With TKI therapy, the annual mortality has been reduced from 10–20% to about 2%. Therefore, the prevalence of CML is expected to continue to increase. Based on an estimated annual mortality of 2% and an incidence of 8500 cases per year, the plateau prevalence of CML is estimated to be reached ...