Cutaneous adverse reactions of imatinib therapy in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia: A six-year follow up

Abstract

Background: Imatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Cutaneous adverse reactions of imatinib therapy have been reported in 7%-88.9% patients. Objectives: We sought to evaluate the prevalence rates of cutaneous adverse reactions of imatinib therapy and to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics of these reactions. Materials and methods: Sixty-six patients (36 men, 30 women; age range 19-83 years) with CML treated with imatinib between 2008 and 2014 were included in the study. Clinical and pathological features of the adverse reactions were investigated. Results: Cutaneous adverse reactions were the most common adverse effects of imatinib therapy and were seen in nine patients with a prevalence rate of 13.6%. The second most common adverse effect was musculoskeletal pain (12.1%). The following cutaneous reactions were observed in patients: edema, rash, pigmentary changes, aphthous stomatitis, alopecia, cutaneous dryness, hyperhidrosis and cheilitis. Imatinib therapy was discontinued in four patients because of various adverse effects. Conclusion: Although the prevalence rate of cutaneous adverse reactions in our study was lower than that in several other studies, cutaneous reactions were common in our study. The relatively low prevalence rate of adverse reactions may be related to the low dosage of imatinib (400 mg/day) used to treat our patients and may have been affected by pharmacogenetic characteristics of our population.