Description:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Currently, physicians treating chronic myeloid leukaemia (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CML</jats:styled-content>) patients can rely on a wide spectrum of therapeutic options: the best use of such options is essential to achieve excellent clinical outcomes and, possibly, treatment‐free remission (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">TFR</jats:styled-content>). To accomplish this, proper integration of expert clinical and laboratory monitoring of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CML</jats:styled-content> patients is fundamental. Molecular response (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MR</jats:styled-content>) monitoring of patients at defined time points has emerged as an important success factor for optimal disease management and <jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BCR</jats:styled-content>‐<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ABL</jats:styled-content>1</jats:italic> kinase domain mutation screening is useful to guide therapeutic reassessment in patients who do not achieve optimal responses to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Deeper <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MR</jats:styled-content>s might be associated with improved long‐term survival outcomes. More importantly, they are considered a gateway to <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">TFR</jats:styled-content>. In molecular biology, novel procedures and technologies are continually being developed. More sophisticated molecular tools and automated analytical solutions are emerging as <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CML</jats:styled-content> treatment endpoints and expectations become more and more ambitious. Here we provide a critical overview of current and novel methodologies, present their strengths and pitfalls and discuss what their present and future role might be.</jats:p>