Hematologic Malignancies Program

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

What is Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia? | Symptoms | Stages and Treatments | About the Cinical Trials | Greenebaum Cancer Center

Symptoms

In the first stages of chronic myelogenous leukemia, most people don't have any symptoms of cancer. A person with any of the following symptoms should see a doctor:

Also, the spleen may be swollen, which may cause pain in the left side of the abdomen or make a person feel full without eating their normal amount of food. (The spleen is an organ in the upper abdomen that makes other types of white blood cells and filters old blood cells from the blood.)

If a patient has symptoms of chronic myelogenous leukemia, a doctor will do a physical exam and may order blood tests to find out the number of each of the different kinds of blood cells. If the results of the blood tests are not normal, a doctor may do a bone marrow biopsy.

During this test, a needle is inserted into a bone and a small amount of bone marrow is taken out and examined under the microscope.

The chance of recovery (prognosis) from chronic myelogenous leukemia depends on the stage of the disease and the patient's age and general health.


This page was last updated on: March 3, 2008.