Clinical features
In a majority of patients CML is diagnosed when they are in the chronic phase (CP) which is asymptomatic for prolonged periods.
Symptoms appear when there is expansion of CML cells. The clinical features of CML may be classified into:
- non-specific systemic features:
- anaemia
- malaise & fatigue
- weight loss
- sweating
- common features:
- bleeding diathesis:
- discrete ecchymoses
- menorrhagia
- splenomegaly
- bleeding diathesis:
- hepatomegaly
- rare features:
- abdominal pain or pleuritic pain due to splenic infarction
- gout
- signs and symptoms of hyperviscosity due to leucocytosis - retinal haemorrhages, priapism, cerebrovascular accidents, tinnitus
- fever
Signs and symptoms which indicate a progressive disease (from chronic phase through accelerated phase to blastic phase) include:
- progressive leucocytosis
- thrombocytosis or thrombocytopenia
- anaemia
- increasing and painful splenomegaly or hepatomegaly
- fever
- bone pain
- development of destructive bone lesions.
- thrombotic or bleeding complications
Reference:
- Chronic myeloid leukaemia: European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up (2020)
Related pages
Create an account to add page annotations
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.