Dasatinib-Induced Leukotrichia in a Patient With Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

The document described a case where a 27-year-old woman with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) developed leukotrichia, or hair whitening, after being treated with dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). The patient, who was resistant to imatinib, experienced hair color changes after 6 months of dasatinib therapy, following an initial anagen effluvium and a subsequent chronic telogen effluvium. A scalp biopsy revealed a normal count of hair follicles but an absence of melanocytes in the hair bulbs. The paper discussed dasatinib's unique mechanism of action, which includes inhibition of kinases involved in hair pigmentation and growth, and suggested that the use of TKIs in cancer treatment may provide further understanding of their effects on skin and hair.