Researchers are learning that a history of malignancies for people living with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) doesn’t mean there’s a bad ending in sight.
A new study published in the online medical journal Cancer shows that those with the malignancy history can have outcomes as great as those without a malignancy past.
“With prolonged survival, questions arise regarding the effects of TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitors) treatment on prior medical conditions and the effect on such conditions on the management and outcomes of patients with CML,” the study’s authors wrote.
These results are contrary to recent studies, which have shown an increase in prevalence of other malignancies prior to a patient being diagnosed with CML, according to cancernetwork.com.
The study had 630 participants with chronic CML – all but four of them had a prior malignancy status of some kind. About 10 percent of those had a history of malignancies before being diagnosed with CML.
It was a 65-month median time between the prior malignancy and the CML diagnosis for the primary malignancies group. Other groups included nonmelanoma skin cancer and a group of patients with CML as the initial malignancy.
Results showed that a history of prior malignancy did not lead to a decreased chance of survival – a good sign for those living with the disease who are using TKI therapy as their treatment.
“The results of the current study indicate that survivors of prior malignancies who develop CML as a second (or later) malignancy may have a similarly excellent outcome with TKI therapy as patients for whom CML is their first malignancy,” the study said. Jorge E. Cortes of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center led the study. “In fact, these data stress the importance of the control of other comorbid conditions after the diagnosis and treatment of CML.”
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