Clinical Implications of Cytogenetic Variants in Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia (CML)

Abstract Serial cytogenetic studies were performed on 179 chronic myelocytic leukemia patients (CML) at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. Patients were divided into 6 groups according to cytogenetic findings: Ph1 negative (18 patients), Ph1 negative with other chromosomal abnormalities (3 patients), Ph1 positive (116 patients), Ph1 positive and negative (10 patients), Ph1 positive with other chromosomal abnormalities (24 patients), and Ph1 positive which turned to other chromosomal abnormalities (8 patients). Patients who were Ph1 negative and negative with other chromosomal abnormalities (11.8 per cent of total) had the shortest median survival, 12 to 15 months. In contrast, the median survival of patients in the Ph1 positive groups was 31 to 40 months. The development of other chromosomal abnormalities in Ph1 positive patients presaged the terminal stage of the disease.