Journal of Clinical Case Reports

A Rare but Fatal Complication Probably due to Imatinib: Cerebral Edema

Abstract

Ozgur Mehtap, Elif Birtas Atesoglu, Pinar Tarkun, Abdullah Hacihanefioglu, Hakan Keski and Sehnaz Basaran

Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that strongly inhibits the tyrosine kinases like BCR-ABL1, KIT and PDGFRB and is used in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. As well as its proven effectiveness its frequent side effects are also well known. Apart from its other side effects its commonly encountered side effect in daily clinical use is edema. Although the path-physiology of this process has not yet been well understood, its strong blocking action on PDGFRB is thought to be responsible. In this case report we are presenting a chronic myeloid leukemia patient with cerebral edema who unfortunately died. To our knowledge, she has been the third patient who was reported due to this complication of imatinib. As we could not estimate another cause we strongly deduced that the cerebral edema was due to imatinib.