What are your recommendations for a male patient who was recently started on imatinib and wants to conceive?

Great question. This comes up often. For males, they can continue to take their CML TKI and conceive a child. Of course, this is much more complicated for women as they should not be pregnant while taking a TKI.

I would say that if the patient is having difficulties conceiving, he should undergo a ...

Imatinib can affect spermatogenesis. Therefore, he should stop imatinib for 6 months. Then should try to impregnate his partner. Resume imatinib after.

For the sake of completeness, I will address the question for women. Although contraception advice and termination of early pregnancy have been the standard practice in women, cases of imatinib use during pregnancy have been reported. An analysis (N = 12) of women diagnosed with a GIST tumor in the ...

I would stop taking in pregnant women if in molecular remission.