Nilotinib in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia with hepatotoxicity after imatinib

Abstract

In the treatment of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) is used. Presently, treatment of the fi rst line is based on the three available TKI, including imatinib, nilotinib or dasatynib. However, imatinib (IM) is the most widely used in this clinical setting. In some patients, it can cause severe liver damage. This event occurs in less than 5% of patients. This paper presents a description of 2 clinical cases of hepatotoxicity after IM. In 2 patients, this was the reason of withdrawing the drug and nilotinib was introduced. The therapy was well tolerated and there was no recurrence of hepatotoxicity.