Early response does not predict outcome in children and adolescents with chronic myeloid leukaemia treated with high‐dose imatinib

We investigated the predictive value of the 3-month BCR-ABL1 transcript levels in terms of responses and outcome of 44 children and adolescents (<18 years at diagnosis) with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treated with high-dose imatinib (IM) (340 mg/m2/day). The transcript cutoff levels of 1% and 10% BCR-ABL1 IS were not predictive of either complete cytogenetic response at any time, overall molecular response (MR) and complete MR (CMR), and progression-free survival probabilities at 5 years. The 3-month transcript levels in children and adolescents with CML treated with high-dose IM do not appear to be informative for the prediction of outcomes.