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Leukaemia and other allied blood disorders
Chronic myeloid leukaemia (cml)
This mainly occurs in adults (peak age forty to fifty years). It may be diagnosed as a chance finding on full blood count done for another reason. Patients may be anaemic (pale and easily tired), have abdominal discomfort due to an enlarged spleen, fevers, sweating and loss of weight. Diagnosis is by full blood count followed by bone marrow examination. There are typically three phases to CML: a chronic phase which may last some years during which the disease can be easily controlled with mild chemotherapy; an accelerated phase lasting some months during which the symptoms are more marked and the disease progresses more rapidly; and finally a blast phase or crisis lasting weeks to months in which the condition has transformed to acute leukaemia. Treatment for most patients, in the chronic phase, is by chemotherapy by mouth or injections of Interferon. A relatively new drug, called Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate, STI-571), has shown promise in the treatment of CML. It has recently received a full license in the UK. Younger patients may be recommended to have a stem cell transplant (particularly if they have a tissue matching brother or sister) which is the only curative treatment for the disease.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (cll)
| Related disorders 
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