Haematologica Reports 2005; 1(issue 8):
52-54[prev][index][next]
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Gentile M, Guarini A, Mauro FR, Foà R
Divisione di Ematologia, Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed
Ematologia, University “La Sapienza”,
Rome, Italy
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disorder characterized
by a progressive accumulation of mature B lymphocytes which either
avoid death because of external survival signals or go into
apoptosis to be replenished by proliferating precursors. CLL is the
most common type of leukemia of elderly people in the Western
countries.1 Although the median survival is around 10
years, in individual patients the prognosis is extremely variable,
ranging from a very short to a normal life span. After decades
during which the wait and watch management has been the normal
approach to these patients, the attitude of the physicians towards
CLL patients has changed remarkably during the last few years. The
reasons for this change are manifold and some are discussed below.
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