Efficacy and Safety of Ibrutinib Use in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Real World Experiences: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Study

Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia seen in adults. Ibrutinib is an orally administered irreversible inhibitor of Bruton tyrosine kinase. Ibrutinib monotherapy has been found effective in many CLL studies. This study aimed at investigating the real world experiences of patients with CLL who have been treated with ibrutinib in Turkey. Materials and Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included 136 patients (91 male) from 33 sites who received at least 1 cycle of ibrutinib since February 2013. Results: The median age was 64. The median follow up time from the initial diagnosis was 69 months (range: 9-296). An average of 2 treatment protocols had been given (range: 0-7) before ibrutinib and the median time elapsed from the last treatment to the date of ibrutinib administration was 6 months (range: 0-120 months). Before ibrutinib, 51.5% of the patients had a comorbidity, 21.3% a bulky disease and 52.2% a B symptom. Of the patients, 87.9% had ECOG