Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of high-dose imatinib (IM) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients by pooled published studies.
Methods: Through searching the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO, ESMO, CNKI, and Wanfang, we collected open published clinical controlled trials-related high-dose IM treatment of CML. The pooled complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) and hematologic toxicities were calculated by the statistical software.
Results: Seven studies were included in this study with 1137 cases received high-dose IM treatment and 958 cases received regular-dose IM treatment. The pooled results showed that patients received high-dose IM had higher CCyR compared with regular-dose with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.75 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.44-2.1, P < 0.05) and 1.58 (95% CI: 1.38-1.81, P < 0.05) in 6 and 12 months. However, the hematologic toxicities risk of neutropenia (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.22-2.54) and thrombopenia (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.42-2.50) were much higher in the high-dose group.
Conclusion: High-dose IM for CML treatment was superior to standard-dose IM in the aspects of CCyR, but the risk of developing neutropenia and thrombopenia was much higher.