Dasatinib (Sprycel) is a new-targeted therapy used since 2005 in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia and de novo Philadelphia positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patients, intolerant or resistant to imatinib. Despite its high efficacy in such patients in terms of hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular responses, the onset of frequent and sometimes serious side effects particularly in advanced phase patients, especially myelosuppressions and pleural effusions, may impair optimal administration of the drug. Recently, dasatinib dose optimisation in chronic-phase has reduced the incidence of such adverse events without modification of the efficacy, however, their optimal overall management can efficiently reduce their severity and minimize their impact on disease response. Hereby, we attempted to propose a series of guidelines that might be of help in daily practice, in order to control properly these side effects.