Haematological and Clinical Characterization of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

A myeloproliferative disorder known as chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is caused by the clonal proliferation of haematopoietic progenitor stem cell leading to a marked raise in the granulocyte series of cells in the peripheral blood and bone marrow. The present study focused on evaluating clinical and haematological parameters. It is an observational study conducted over a period of 3 years which constitutes 50 diagnosed CML patients. Clinical and haematological details were collected. Prognostic Sokal and European treatment and Outcomes Study (EUTOS) scoring were applied to stratify different risk groups of patients. Study population showed male preponderance. The most common presenting symptom was splenomegaly (98%) followed by anaemia (94%). The patients were divided into Chronic Phase (CP), Accelerated Phase (AP) and Blast phase (BP) in males and females. In males, there was a significant reduction in haemoglobin levels as the disease progressed whereas in females, there was a reduction in haemoglobin levels. Haemoglobin count reflected the anaemic picture and was lowest in the blast phase. The blood cell indices and differential counts were within their normal range in both male and female patients. There was variation in the levels of lymphocytes among males and females but lower than the normal range. Basophil levels were significant between the different phases in females whereas platelet count was significant in males. The current study expected that there would be significant variations between male and female CML patients in a number of haematological measures which can be used as a good prognostic indicator.