Chronic myelogenous leukemia

Abstract

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a relatively rare disease, with a number of features that make it especially suitable for observations on leukemogenesis in man. These include known etiologic agents, often a prolonged preclinical and active stage, cells with identifiable morphological and histochemical characteristics and the presence of the unique Ph' chromosome. The transition of CML to blast crisis is a catastrophic event; however, recent clinical and biochemical studies have raised important questions as to the nature and origin of blast cells in this disease. During the past 10 years, we have followed 113 cases olf CML throughout their course and results of observations on the clinical, hematological and other apsects of the disease are presented in this communication.

Vincristine and Prednisolone Therapy in Blast Crisis of Chronic Myelogenous Leukaemia in Childhood

“…The mean duration of survival from the onset of blast crisis in TdT-positive cases was 32 months, which is far beyond that of previous reports (Vallejos et a1 1974, Marks et a1 1978, Moloney 1978. Marks et a1 (1978) reported that although TdT-positive cases did respond to V-P therapy, the mean duration of survival from the onset of blast crisis was only 20 weeks.…”

“…Treatment of CML blast crisis had been disappointing (Vallejos et a1 1974, Moloney 1978. However, the present 3 TdT positive cases showed complete response to V-P therapy.…”

Busulphan versus combination chemotherapy for initial treatment of chronic granulocytic leukaemia

“…Similarly, splenic [2] or other forms of radiotherapy [3] and the use of combination chemotherapy [4], with or without splenectomy [ 5 ] , remains controversial. The usual course is that of a relatively long period of good disease control, followed by some months of clinical deterioration in which the disease accelerates [6], and finally, conversion to acute leukaemia. When the latter is lymphoblastic, response is possible with drug therapy [7], but with myeloblastic or other forms of transformation further treatment is of limited value [8].…”