Incidence and outcome after first molecular versus overt recurrence in patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia included in the ALL Ph08 trial from the Spanish PETHEMA Group.

Disease recurrence was frequent in young and older adults with Ph+ ALL who were treated with imatinib and chemotherapy with HSCT. Although the majority of patients responded to rescue therapy, their outcomes were poor, especially with regard to overt disease recurrence.