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From a study of the pretreatment bone marrow biopsy and absolute peripheral blood lymphocyte count, we found that a reasonably accurate prognosis for patients with early CLL could be made. The ratio of percentage bone marrow space occupied by lymphatic tissue in sections of the first pretreatment bone marrow biopsy to the absolute peripheral blood lymphocyte count at that time was found to be inversely proportional to survival time (p <.01). Other indications of poor prognosis were diffuse rather than nodular lymphatic infiltration, lymphoblasts rather than small lymphocytes, and increased numbers of bone marrow plasma cells.
Gray et al. (1974) studied this question.