| 232 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2005; 90(2)

Validation of the EBMT risk score in chronic myeloid leukemia in Brazil and allogeneic transplant outcome The approach to primary treatmentfor patients with newly diagnosedchronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has changed as a result of the effectiveness and safety of imatinib mesylate.1-6 This drug has shown activity in all phases of CML but the best responses are seen in the early chronic phase.7-11 The results of the IRIS study of imatinib alone versus interferon-α (IFN-α) plus cytarabine (Ara-C) showed that the chance of preventing progression to accelerated phase or blast crisis was 97 % in a median time of 18 months for patients receiving imatinib alone versus 93 % for those who receive