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Introduction
Measuring WBCs
Myeloid Leukemias
Lymphoid Leukemias
Sources
of Error
Quiz Please
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Clinical problems and outcome for patients with CLL.
- For most it is an indolent
course with median survival of 4-6 years.
- Survivals as long as 10
years are not uncommon.
- Common nondescript symptoms
include:
- Malaise, weight
loss, fever, night sweats and complaints relative to various cytopenias.
- Many patients have
hypogammaglobulinemia leading to infections.
- Up to 15% develop renegade
antibodies against self constituents.
- Autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
- Autoimmune thrombocytopenia.
- Some patients experience
a transformation of the CLL to a higher grade malignancy.
- Prolymphocytic transformation:
larger and less well differentiated lymphocytes appear
in circulation. This is a bit like the accelerated phase of CML.
- Richter's syndrome:
transformation to a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
- Both of these "accelerated"
phases of CLL are bad signs, and most people die within one year of their
development.
- Some patients develop
an aplastic anemia.
Treatment.
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