Objective: To quantitatively evaluate the impact of Sokal's risk index and that of 2 therapy protocols on the clinical outcome of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
Methods: With the assistance of Access 2000 database of CML, 94 patients with CML were grouped on the basis of either different therapy protocols utilizing harringtonine plus Ara-C (HA) vs hydroxyurea (Hu) or Sokal scores, and the impact of therapy protocol and risk profile were quantitatively evaluated respectively.
Result: Treatment protocol utilizing HA was incapable of lengthening the duration of chronic phase (DCP) of CML, regardless of its better short-term effect than that of Hu. The impact of risk profile of the patients on clinical remission rate and DCP was more significant than that of the therapy protocols.
Conclusion: HA should not be used as the first-line protocol in the treatment of CML patients in chronic phase who have not received any previous medical intervention. Patients should be categorized according to the risk profile for choosing appropriate treatment protocol and making better clinical judgement.