In:
Clinical Transplantation, Wiley, Vol. 35, No. 5 ( 2021-05)
Abstract:
Treatment of steroid‐refractory chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (cGVHD) is a challenge. Here, we describe a retrospective analysis of 66 patients with steroid‐refractory cGVHD treated with imatinib (starting dose of 100 mg in 70% of patients; maximum dose of 100‐200 mg in 74%). Most patients had multi‐organ involvement (≥2 organs, 83%), with the most affected being skin (85%), oral mucosa (55%), eyes (42%), and lungs (33%). The overall response rate was 41% (21 partial and three complete responses). The organ with the best response rate was the skin (46%), followed by gastrointestinal tract (43%), liver (41%), the oral mucosa (36%), eyes (29%), and lungs (18%). Imatinib led to steroid tapering in 17/38 patients. Twenty‐five (38%) patients experienced imatinib‐related adverse events, comprising extra‐hematologic toxicity ( n = 24, 36%) and hematologic toxicity ( n = 6, 9%). No cases of grade 4‐5 toxicity were reported. The main causes of imatinib discontinuation were treatment failure (52%) and toxicity (9%). After a median follow‐up of 41 months, the 3‐year overall survival was 81%, with no difference between imatinib responders and non‐responders. These real‐life results show that imatinib is safe and has moderate efficacy in patients with heavily pre‐treated cutaneous sclerotic cGVHD; however, activity against lung cGVHD is very limited.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0902-0063
,
1399-0012
Language:
English
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2739458-X
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2004801-4