Staging for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)
This page is about the different stages of chronic myeloid leukaemia. There is information on
What is staging?
When your doctors have all your test results, they will know more about how far your leukaemia has developed. This is called staging. The stage of your CML helps your doctor to work out the treatment you will need.
Staging CML
The staging in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is described in 3 phases. These are the chronic phase, the accelerated phase, and the blast phase.
In the chronic or stable phase, you will have symptoms that are mild and vague. These may include feeling tired, losing a little weight, and a slightly enlarged spleen. The number of white cells and platelets in your blood may be raised.
In the accelerated phase, your symptoms will be more obvious. You may notice that you are feeling more tired than usual or losing weight. Your spleen may be enlarged, which may cause an uncomfortable or painful feeling to the left of your stomach under your ribs.
The blast phase is also called the acute phase or blast crisis. In this phase, the leukaemia becomes more rapid and aggressive. Your symptoms will be troublesome and you will be feeling quite unwell.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the Treating CML cancer section.
When your doctors have all your test results, they will know more about how far your leukaemia has developed. Your doctor uses the stage of your chronic leukaemia to work out the treatment you will need. There are different ways of staging for different types of chronic leukaemia. If you are looking for information on staging chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, you are in the wrong section and should follow the link to get to the right page.
The staging in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is described in phases. CML has three phases
- Chronic phase
- Accelerated phase
- Blast phase
The chronic phase is when the leukaemia is most stable and still developing slowly. About 9 out of 10 people (90%) are in chronic phase when they are diagnosed. Some people are diagnosed by chance and have no symptoms. But you may have symptoms that are mild and vague. You may feel tired and have lost a little weight. Your spleen may be slightly enlarged. The number of white cells in your blood may be raised and so may the number of platelets. Fewer than 1 in 10 (10%) of the blood cells in your bone marrow will be immature blasts.
In the accelerated phase, you will have more obvious symptoms. You may notice that you are feeling more tired than usual. You may be losing weight. Your spleen may be enlarged, which might give you an uncomfortable or painful feeling to the left of your stomach, under your ribs. Between 10% and 30% of the blood cells in your bone marrow will be immature blasts.
The blast phase is also called the acute phase or blast crisis. In this phase the leukaemia becomes more rapid and aggressive. Your symptoms will be troublesome and you will be feeling quite unwell. Your spleen will be enlarged. More than 30% of the blood cells in your bone marrow will be immature blast cells and the disease will have spread to other organs.
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