Leukemia, chronic lymphocytic definition - medical term
The most common form of leukemia in adults,
in which the lymphocytes may look fairly normal but are not fully mature and do
not deal effectively with infection. The malignant cells are found in the blood
and bone marrow, collect in and enlarge the lymph nodes, and may crowd out other
blood cells in the bone marrow, resulting in a shortage of red blood cells (producing
anemia) and platelets (producing easy bruising and bleeding). Abbreviated CLL.
C LL is most common in people over 60 and progresses slowly. In the first stages,
there are often no symptoms. As time goes on, more and more lymphocytes are made
and symptoms begin to appear such as a persistent feeling of fatigue, swelling of
the lymph nodes, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and easy bruising and bleeding.
Treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation, leukapheresis (a procedure to remove
the extra lymphocytes) and bone marrow transplantation.
CLL is an enigmatic type of leukemia in that the clinical course and outcome
vary considerably from patient to patient, and therefore the outlook is unpredictable.
About two-thirds of patients live with the disease for decades and die from other
causes while about a third of patients experience difficulties soon after diagnosis,
require frequent and often multiple forms of therapy, yet succumb to the illness
within a few years. Cells that make a protein called ZAP-70 are more common in cases
of CLL with poor outcomes. The capacity to make ZAP-70 protein appears limited to
CLL cells with unmutated immunoglobulin genes. Detection of ZAP-70 can now be done
by a relatively convenient and clinically available technology.
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