Table 1.

Definitions of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment responses

Treatment response	Month of treatment	Definition
Complete hematologic response (ChR)	3rd	White blood count less than 10 × 109/L, platelet count less than 450 × 109/L and no immature cell
Partial cytogenetic remissions (PCyR)	6th	A reduction of Ph-positive cells to 1–34 %
Complete cytogenetic response (CCyR)	12th	The disappearance of Ph-positive cells (0 % cells with Ph-positive)
Complete cytogenetic response (CCyR)*	18th	The disappearance of Ph-positive cells (0 % cells with Ph-positive)
Complete molecular response (CMR)	18th	Undetectable BCR-ABL transcripts (a fusion gene indicating the mutation point of Ph)
Major molecular response (MMR)	18th	A 3-log reduction in transcript level

These definitions are adopted from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline [7]. The standard treatment target at 18th month can achieve CCyR, but CMR and MMR are regarded as better outcomes