I am male 38 years old and on treatment for CML chronic phase for exactly one year and taking imatinib 400. My wife recently conceived appropriately one month. My question is, are there any effects on foetus and any effect on health on newly born baby, and will CML transfered to the baby,? My wife worries a lot on this,,,
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Effect on foetus on using Imatinib
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First of all congratulations to you and your wife. Great news that you have a new addition to look forward to.
If you enter the word "pregnancy" in the search bar you'll turn up a lot of resource material which I'm absolutely confident that you'll find helpful and reassuring for you and your wife and enable you to enjoy this time of your life.
All the best.
Starter for 10 to help with reassurance:
Fact 5
Although CML is genetic at its root, it is not inherited from parents nor is it passed on to children.
Most of us think that the genes we are born with are the genes we have for the rest of our life. But the body’s genes can change over time in small ways. Sometimes this causes no problems but sometimes it can cause more serious things like CML.
An abnormality in a stem cell inside the bone marrow causes CML. This genetic abnormality has no effect on the reproductive system. Because of this, the abnormal gene that causes CML does not pass from one generation to another.
http://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/node/854
Congratulations. For women who have a diagnosis of CML and who are treated with TKI therapy it is not recommended that they continue with this drug therapy if they plan to get pregnant or if they accidentally find they have become pregnant. From what I have read, TKIs can be the cause of abnormalities if the foetus is exposed in the first trimester (3 months) of development. However there is different advice for males. There seems to be no correlation between TKI use and any effect on sperm - other than on sperm count so treatment may affect fertility... so it is considered safe for men to father a child whilst on therapy with TKIs.
I suggest you talk with your doctor about this issue if it would reassure your wife. To my knowledge there have been many children born to men who are being treated with TKI therapy without a rise in the rate of abnormalities above rates found in the normal (non CML) population. You most certainly will not pass on CML to your child for the reasons Darley has outlined.
Wishing you and your wife a peaceful and safe pregnancy,
Sandy