SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Objective: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection is more severe and mortality is more common in patients with malignancy. Methods: We evaluated the clinical course of COVID-19 infection in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. 327 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia were analyzed and 21 cases with COVID-19 infection were included in this study. The complaints at the time of admission, laboratory and clinical findings, drugs used for treating COVID-19 infection of these patients were examined. Results: The mean age of 21 patients was 45 +/- 15.85 years; 8 (38.1%) of the cases were male and 13 (61.9%) were female. All of these cases had chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia. The most common complaints at the time of admission to hospital were weakness (66.7%), muscle and/or joint pain (57.1%), sore throat (42.9%). Four (19%) cases had pulmonary involvement and 4 (19%) cases were hospitalized. None of our patients needed intensive care unit admission and mechanical ventilation support. No cases died from COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: The chronic myeloid leukemia patients with COVID-19 infection had a mild clinical course of COVID-19 infection. This could depend on the normal hematological parameters of chronic myeloid leukemia patients or using tyrosine kinase inhibitors.