Overview

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a disease in which mature lymphocytes become cancerous and gradually replace normal cells in lymph nodes.

• People may have no symptoms or they may have general symptoms such as tiredness.
• People may also have enlarged lymph nodes and a sense of abdominal fullness.
• Blood tests and examination of a bone marrow sample are needed for diagnosis.
• Treatment includes chemotherapy drugs, monoclonal antibodies, and sometimes radiation therapy.

More than three fourths of the people who have chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are older than 60, and the disease does not occur in children. This type of leukemia affects men 2 to 3 times more often than women. CLL is the most common type of leukemia in North America and Europe. It is rare in Japan and Southeast Asia, which indicates that heredity plays some role in its development.

Symptoms and Diagnosis

In early stages of CLL, most people have no symptoms, and the disease is diagnosed only because of an increased white blood cell count. Later symptoms may include enlarged lymph nodes, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, shortness of breath when exercising, and a sense of abdominal fullness resulting from an enlarged spleen.
As CLL progresses, people may appear pale and bruise easily. Bacterial, viral, and fungal infections generally do not occur until late in the course of the disease.

Treatment

Because CLL progresses slowly, many people do not need treatment for years—until the number of lymphocytes begins to increase, the lymph nodes begin to enlarge, or the number of red blood cells or platelets decreases.