Dear Livia, Dr. Druker is no longer recommending any stem cell harvests for PCRU patients, his patients have all mentioned this. And it has been stopped also in our clinic. I do know a patient who used his harvest, he is from another support group, I talk to his wife. He had a harvest when he was in CCR and when he progressed in his disease, they used the harvest in an autologous transplant and this kept him in remission for only 3 months before the disease came back again. He is now on Sprycel. Most doctors feel that with the advent of new drugs like AMN and Sprycel and more coming, there are many options for patients relapsing from Gleevec and an autologous transplant will only keep the disease in control for a while before inevitable relapse so stem cell harvests are just costly to do and most of the harvests sit in the freezer.
You are right, they still do it in Europe, it could be because clinical trials are not so accessible there though once Sprycel is marketed everywhere, there will be accessibility to Sprycel for patients who fail Gleevec. I know many patients who had stem cell harvests from the old days (almost none in this day and age) but I only know that one patient who actually used his harvest. Its good you are researching so thoroughly, Livia, before deciding. Best Wishes, Anjana caregiver to Roy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to CMLHope@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---