Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Chronic myelogenous (or myeloid) leukemia (CML), also known as chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL), is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is a form of leukemia characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of predominantly myeloid cells in the bone marrow and the accumulation of these cells in the blood. CML is a clonal bone marrow stem cell disorder in which proliferation of mature granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils) and their precursors is the main finding. It is a type of myeloproliferative disease associated with a characteristic chromosomal translocation called the Philadelphia chromosome. CML is now largely treated with targeted drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as Gleevec/Glivec (imatinib), Sprycel (dasatinib), Tasigna (nilotinib), or Bosulif (bosutinib) which have led to dramatically improved long term survival rates (95.2%) since the introduction of Gleevec in 2001. These drugs have revolutionized treatment of this disease and allow most patients to have a good quality of life when compared to the former chemotherapy drugs.