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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Aug 3.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer. 2010 Nov 1;116(21):4991–5000. doi: 10.1002/cncr.25273

Table 1.

Questions and answers in the internet or phone interviews

1 When a patient of yours receives a preliminary diagnosis of CML, where do you typically obtain
confirmatory testing by cytogenetics and/or FISH?
At your institution/hospital; Nearby institution/hospital lab in your country;
Institution/hospital in another country; Commercial laboratory; Other
2 When a new patient of yours receives a preliminary diagnosis of CML, where do you typically obtain
confirmatory testing by qRT-PCR and / or BCR-ABL kinase domain mutation ?
At your institution/hospital; Nearby institution/hospital lab in your country;
Institution/hospital in another country; Commercial laboratory; Other
3 When evaluating a patient with a white cell count (eg. 65,000) and a morphologic picture compatible with
CML, which of the following initial diagnostic tests would you typically perform? Please choose all that
apply.
Bone marrow aspiration; Biopsy; Cytogenetics; FISH; Quantitative PCR; BCR-ABL
mutation analysis; Other
4 In addition to peripheral blood counts, which of the following do you routinely use in monitoring response
to Imatinib therapy? Please choose all that apply.
Cytogenetics; FISH; Quantitative PCR; BCR-ABL kinase domain mutation analysis; Other
5 How frequently do you typically repeat cytogenetic analysis studies for monitoring response to Imatinib
therapy?
Every 3 months; Every 6 months; Every 12 months; Not routinely repeated; Other
6 How frequently do you typically repeat qRT-PCR for BCR-ABL for monitoring response to Imatinib therapy? Every 3 months; Every 6 months; Yearly; Don’t utilize qRT-PCR
7 How frequently do you typically repeat BCR-ABL kinase domain mutation studies for monitoring response
to Imatinib therapy?
When patients fail to achieve or lose their CyR; When patients fail to achieve or lose their
hematologic response; When there is a 2-fold rise in BCR-ABL transcript levels; Never
ordered the test; Unavailable; Not familiar with this test
8 In a newly diagnosed 20-year old patient with chronic phase CML who has a matched related sibling,
which of the following would you typically recommend?
Imatinib 400 mg/day: Imatinib 600–800 mg/day; Allogeneic SCT; Interferon alpha; Other
9 In a newly diagnosed 20-year old patient with chronic phase CML who has an unrelated matched
donor, which of the following would you typically recommend?
Imatinib 400 mg/day; Imatinib 600–800 mg/day; Allogeneic SCT; Interferon alpha; Other
10 In a newly diagnosed 80-year old patient with chronic phase CML who has an unrelated matched
donor, which of the following, would you typically recommend?
Imatinib 400 mg/day; Imatinib 600–800 mg/day; Allogeneic SCT; Interferon alpha Hydroxyurea; Other
11 In a patient with diagnosis of CML in chronic phase with a WBC of 225 × 109/L, how do you typically initiate
therapy?
Hydroxyurea until the WBC decreases significantly, then start imatinib; Start Imatini; Start Imatinib and hydroxyurea at the same time; Leukapheresis before imatinib; Leukapheresis and start imatinib; Other
12 On a patient with CML in chronic phase in whom you started therapy with Imatinib but who has not
achieved a complete hematologic response, at what point do you typically consider changing therapy?
One Month; 2 months; 3 months; 6 months; 12 months; 18 months; Other
13 On a patient with CML in chronic phase in whom you started therapy with Imatinib but who has not
achieved any cytogenetic response (ie, still 100% Ph positive) at what point do you typically consider
changing therapy?
One Month; 2 months; 3 months; 6 months; 12 months; 18 months; Other
14 On a patient with CML in chronic phase in whom you started therapy with Imatinib but who has not
achieved a major cytogenetic response (ie, still >35% Ph positive), at what point do you typically consider
changing therapy?
One Month; 2 months; 3 months; 6 months; 12 months; 18 months; Other
15 In a 70-year old patient with Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML in chronic phase on Imatinib 400 mg
orally daily, which of the following strategies would you use routinely for monitoring response to Imatinib
treatment? Please choose all that apply
Blood counts; Cytogenetics; FISH; Quantitative PCR; Mutation analysis; Other
16 In a 50-year old patient with Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML in chronic phase with a matched
related sibling donor currently on Imatinib 400 mg daily, which of the following monitoring strategies
would you use? Please choose all that apply.
Blood counts; Cytogenetics; FISH; Quantitative PCR; Mutation analysis; Other
17 In a patient with CML receiving therapy with Imatinib, which of the following would cause you to decide
that the patient had experienced failure to therapy and should receive an alternative treatment? Please
choose all that apply.
At 3 months, no CHR; At 3 months, no CyR (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 6 months, no cytogenetic
response (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 6 months, no major CyR (ie, Ph+ >35%); At 6 months, no
CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 12 months, no CyR (ie. Ph+ 100%); At 12 months, no MCyR (ie,
Ph+ >35%); At 12 months, no CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 12 months, no MMR (ie, <3-log
reduction in BCR-ABL transcript levels); At 18 months, no CR (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 18
months, no MCyR (ie, Ph+ >35%); At 18 months, no CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 18 months,
no MMR (ie, <3-log reduction in BCR-ABL transcript levels); At 18 months, no MMR (ie,
<3-log reduction in BCR-ABL transcript levels); 2-fold rise in QPCR while in CCyR; ≥1 log
rise in QPCR while in CCyR; Loss of CHR; Loss of CCyR; Loss of MCyR; None of the
above
18 Do you make a distinction between patients with failure to Imatinib and patients with suboptimal response
to Imatinib?
Yes, suboptimal response is a distinct entity; No, suboptimal response is the same as
failure; No, patients are either failing or not
19 If you do recognize suboptimal response as a separate entity, which of the following do you consider
criteria for suboptimal response? Please choose all that apply.
At 3 months, no CHR; At 3 months, no CyR (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 6 months, no cytogenetic
response (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 6 months, no major CyR (ie, Ph+ >35%); At 6 months, no
CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 12 months, no CyR (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 12 months, no MCyR (ie,
Ph+ >35%); At 12 months, no CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 12 months, no MMR (ie, <3-log
reduction in BCR-ABL transcript levels); At 18 months, no CR (ie, Ph+ 100%); At 18 months, no MCyR (ie, Ph+ >35%); At 18
months, no CCyR (ie, Ph+ >0%); At 18 months,
no MMR (ie. <3-log reduction in BCR- ABL transcript levels); 2-fold rise in QPCR while in
CCyR; ≥1 log rise in QPCR while in CCyR; Loss of CHR; Loss of CCyR; Loss of MCyR;
None of the above
20 On a 50-year old patient with a matched sibling donor who in your opinion has experienced failure to
Imatinib 400 mg daily, what is your preferred course of action:
Increase the dose of Imatinib to 600mg; to 800mg; Change therapy to Dasatinib to
Nilotinib; Stem cell transplantation; Other clinical trials; Other
21 On a 50-year old patient with a matched sibling donor who in your opinion has experienced suboptimal
response to Imatinib 400 mg daily, what is your preferred course of action:
Increase the dose of Imatinib to 600mg; to 800mg; Change therapy to Dasatinib; to
Nilotinib; Stem cell transplantation; Other clinical trials; Other
22 If you decide to increase the dose of Imatinib, how long do you try this approach before considering a
change in therapy if not responding:
3 months; 6 months; 12 months; 18 months; 24 months; Other
23 For patients with suboptimal response to Imatinib do you typically assess for BCR-ABL kinase domain
mutations?
Yes; No
24 For a 60-year old patient with CML who has failed Imatinib (using your standard criteria), and who has a
matched related sibling. which of the following treatment options would you typically choose next?
Allogeneic SCT; Dasatinib; Nilotinib; Low dose IFN, AraC, hydroxyurea, or combination of
these; Other investigational strategy
25 For a 60-year old patient with CML who has failed Imatinib (using your standard criteria), who has a
matched unrelated donor, which of the following treatment options would you choose next?
Allogeneic SCT; Dasatinib; Nilotinib; Low dose IFN, AraC, hydroxyurea, or combination of these; Other investigational strategy
26 For a 35-year old with a matched sibling who is receiving Imatinib 400mg daily for CML in CP who is in
complete cytogenetic remission and had achieved a major molecular response and now has a 5-fold
increase in transcript levels and has lost major molecular response (but still in complete cytogenetic
remission) your preferred course of action would be:
Continue therapy unchanged; Increase the dose of Imatinib to 600mg daily; to 800 mg
daily; Change therapy to Dasatinib; to Nilotinib; to stem cell transplant
27 In the case of this 35-year old patient, would you assess for mutations: Yes; Would like to, but not available; No, only if the patient has lost cytogenetic or
hematologic response ; Not in any instance
28 How would you use the information obtained from assessing mutations? Please choose all that apply. Keep as background information only; Change therapy to a new TKI only if mutation is
present; Select new TKI based on mutation detected; Transplant the patient if T315I
found; Transplant the patent if P-loop found; Increase the dose only if not mutation
identified; Other
29 How do you usually assess Imatinib-associated toxicity in your patients? Frequent physician visits; Frequent nurse visits; Toxicity questionnaire completed by
patients; Telephone query performed by nurse; Other
30 Which, of the following Imatinib toxicities have you encountered in your patients with CML? Please check
all toxicities as either “Ever encountered” or “Never encountered”

CML indicates chronic myeloid leukemia; SCT, stem cell transplantation; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridization; IFN, interferon; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; QPCR, Quantitative PCR; CHR, complete hematologic response; CyR, cytogenetic response; MCyR, major CyR; CCyR; CCyR, complete CyR; Ph, Philadelphia chromosome