Clinical efficacy and safety of high-dose imatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia patients: An updated meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of high-dose imatinib (IM) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients by pooled published studies.

METHODS

Through searching the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO, ESMO, CNKI, and Wanfang, we collected open published clinical controlled trials-related high-dose IM treatment of CML. The pooled complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) and hematologic toxicities were calculated by the statistical software.

RESULTS

Seven studies were included in this study with 1137 cases received high-dose IM treatment and 958 cases received regular-dose IM treatment. The pooled results showed that patients received high-dose IM had higher CCyR compared with regular-dose with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.75 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.44-2.1, P < 0.05) and 1.58 (95% CI: 1.38-1.81, P < 0.05) in 6 and 12 months. However, the hematologic toxicities risk of neutropenia (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.22-2.54) and thrombopenia (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.42-2.50) were much higher in the high-dose group.

CONCLUSION

High-dose IM for CML treatment was superior to standard-dose IM in the aspects of CCyR, but the risk of developing neutropenia and thrombopenia was much higher.