5 CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, considering the limitations of the retrospective analysis and the small size of the sample, an additional effort should be supported on an international basis to clarify the role of adjuvant therapy in this setting. Even though our study is limited by the selection bias and small size of the sample, we believe that our results should be considered when adjusting the regimen of imatinib for patients who are intolerant to standard-dose imatinib therapy in the absence of a randomized clinical trial.
Figure1. The flow diagram of research cohort inclusion and exclusion.
Figure2. The distribution of Cmin in different dose groups. The horizontal line represents Cmin =1100 ng/mL, and the two vertical lines represent 25% and 75% percentiles (1,100 and 2,040 ng/mL), respectively.
Figure3. Association of different doses of imatinib and imatinib plasm trough concentration (Cmin)(A). The group of 600-mg/d was only one patient and thus was excluded. Correlations between imatinib Cmin and gender in 300-, and 400-mg/d groups(B).
Figure4. Recurrence-free survival in the unmatched (A), and the inverse probability of treatment weight-adjusted analysis (B) in groups of patients with different doses.