Complete molecular remission in a patient with Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute myeloid leukemia after conventional therapy and imatinib

Philadelphia-chromosome (Ph)-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is rare and prognosis is poor with a median survival of six to seven months only. We report on a patient with Ph-positive AML (FAB M2, major BCR/ABL1 mRNA transcript, b2a2), who is in sustained complete cytogenetic and molecular remission for 15 months. Cytarabine-based chemotherapy was discontinued after two courses due to infectious complications. Since the b2a2 transcript was still detectable, imatinib was started with quantitative RT-PCR monitoring. This result is promising and worth further evaluation to establish the role of imatinib in patients with Ph-positive AML.