Effective treatment of hypereosinophilic syndrome with imatinib mesylate

Imatinib mesylate treatment is highly effective in chronic myeloid leukaemia and recent data have suggested that imatinib mesylate is also effective in the treatment of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES). Six patients with HES were treated daily with 100 mg imatinib mesylate. Five patients had normal karyotype and one showed trisomy 8. RT-PCR was negative for ETV6-PDGFRB and BCR-ABL fusion mRNAs. All patients rapidly achieved complete haematological remission. One patient remained in remission for more than 6 weeks after discontinuing treatment. No significant side effect was noted. Imatinib mesylate should be considered in the first-line therapy of idiopathic HES.