Once you are suspected or told that you have chronic granulocytic leukemia (CML), it is important to remain calm. Although leukemia is a malignant disease of the blood system, it is not a terminal illness. Thanks to scientific progress and the birth of new drugs, CML has become like chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and can be treated with medication to allow patients to survive as normal people for a long time. The goal of CML treatment is, first, to control the disease in the chronic stage as much as possible in order to prolong the patient’s life. Second, to improve the quality of life and to live like a normal person. Treatments for CML in the chronic stage include: 1. chemotherapy (chemotherapy): leucovorin, hydroxyurea 2. alpha-interferon therapy 3. allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (for patients under 40 years old): the only possible cure at present 4. targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors: such as Gleevec. Patients who have progressed to the accelerated and acute phases should be treated according to the principles of acute leukemia. Compared with conventional therapy, the advantages of Gleevec therapy are: 1. Excellent efficacy with a predicted median survival of up to 19 years 2. Good safety profile, easily tolerated by patients 3. Indications for Gleevec therapy 1. For the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML) in the chronic, accelerated, or accelerated phase 2. 3. For the treatment of adult patients with unresectable and/or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors (GIST). 4. For the adjuvant treatment of adult patients at significant risk of relapse after surgical resection of Kit (CD117)-positive GIST (patients at very low and low risk of relapse should not receive this adjuvant). The recommended starting therapeutic dose of Gleevec is 400 mg/day in the chronic phase, 600 mg/day in the accelerated and acute phases. In the absence of serious adverse drug reactions and if the blood picture permits, an increase from 400 mg/day to 600 mg/day or from 600 mg/day to 800 mg/day may be considered in the following cases: 1. disease progression 2. No satisfactory hematologic response after at least 3 months of treatment 3. 12 months of treatment without any cytogenetic response 4. 12 months of treatment and the hematologic and/or cytogenetic response achieved disappears again Adverse reactions to Gleevec Major adverse reactions: 1. myelosuppression 2. gastrointestinal reactions 3. musculoskeletal toxicity 4. hepatotoxicity 5. edema 6. rash