Prognostic importance of cytogenetic abnormalities in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is recognized as having a variable prognosis, but its staging has depended exclusively on anatomical sites of involvement and the presence or absence of anemia and thrombocytopenia. The recent availability of techniques permitting cytogenetic analysis of malignant B lymphocytes led us to examine the karyotypic abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and to correlate them with clinical stage, progression of disease, and survival. Of 53 patients with metaphases adequate for study who were followed for a minimum of one year, 21 (40 per cent) had abnormal karyotypes, of which trisomy 12 was the most frequent (25 per cent). Abnormal karyotypes were found to be significant correlates of advanced clinical stage (P less than 0.005) and of shortened survival (P less than 0.05). We conclude that cytogenetic analysis provides useful clinical and prognostic information in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.