Although the only curative therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia remains allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), the results of imatinib in newly diagnosed patients are sufficiently impressive to have displaced allo-SCT to second or third-line treatment. Patients now arrive at a decision for transplantation in a variety of disease situations: failing to achieve certain hematological, cytogenetic and molecular remission by some pre-determined timepoint, having lost a previous best response or due to progression to an advanced phase. The decision is also how to transplant. In this review article, the evidence supporting some of these decisions and current controversies are discussed.
Chronic myeloid leukemia; bone marrow transplantation; hematopoietic progenitor
