History of patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia observed in 1974-1984

138 CGL-patients were treated in 1974-1984. The female-male ratio was 1.26. In the majority (82.3%) of the 68 patients having died at the blastic phase, all three phases of the disease could be followed. The chronic phase lasted for 31 months. The accelerated disease was detectable in 56 patients, with a mean duration of 5.3 months. The blastic phase, lasting for 4.1 months, was morphologically heterogeneous. Using adequate methods, several groups could be distinguished, i.e. myeloid in 38.3, promyelocytic in 2.9, myelomonocytic in 19.1, megakaryoblastic in 14.7, lymphoblastic in 13.2 and mixed blastic in 11.8%. 23 patients died prior to the development of the blastic phase (9 in the chronic phase, 12 in the accelerated phase and two with chronic neutrophilic leukaemia). The mean survival was in accordance with that in the literature, i.e. 40.6 months. The shortest survival was shown by the lymphoblastic group with the difference manifesting already in the chronic phase. Females survived 13-14 months longer than did males.