Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia Flashcards
What is chronic myeloid leukaemia?
Leukaemia that is almost exclusively an adult disease, accounting for 14% of all leukaemias. CML affects the myeloid cells, i.e. basophils, neutrophils and eosinophils.
Leukaemic cells retain ability to differentiate, and proliferation occurs without bone marrow failure
What is the natural progression of CML?
Chronic phase → aggressive/accelerated phase → blast phase/crisis.
Which age range does CML most commonly occur in?
Between 40 and 60 years - disease is almost exclusively in adults
What chromosomal abnormality is CML associated with?
Philedelphia chromosome t(9;22)
What is the Phildelphia chromosome?
Hybrid chromosome comprising reciprocal translocation between the long arm of chromosome 9 and the long are of chromosome 22, forming a fusion gene BCR/ABL on chromosome 22, which has tyrosine kinase activity
What symptoms can someone with CML present with?
- Tiredness
- Abdominal discomfort - splenomegaly
- Weight loss
- Fever, Night sweats
- Headache (occasionally) - hyperleucocytosis
- Priapism - hyperleucocytosis
- Bruising, bleeding (uncommon)
- Gout
What signs might you see in someone with CML?
- Pallor - anemia
- Bruising
- Splenomegaly - often massive
- Lymphadenopathy
- Extramedullary soft tissue leukaemic deposit ‘chloroma’
- Retinal haemorrhage
What is characteristic of the splenomegaly seen in CML?
It is often massive, causing abdominal discomfort
What can ymphdenopathy in CML indicate?
Blast crisis
What can retinal haemorrhage indicate in CML?
Leucostasis
What investigations might you consider doing in someone with suspected CML?
- Bloods - FBC, U+E’s, LDH, Urate, Blood film, B12
- Imaging - None
- Specific - Bone marrow biopsy with cytogenetics, qPCR and FISH
What does a chloroma indicate?
Blast crisis
What are features of the chronic phase of CML?
Lasting months or years
- Few if any symptoms
What are features of the accelerated phase of CML?
- Increasing symptoms
- Increasing spleen size
- Difficulty in controlling counts
What are features of a blast crisis in CML?
Features of acute leukaemia +/- death