Prognosis related to staging systems for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

CONTEXT Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a clonal lymphoproliferative disorder, characterized by B lymphocytic proliferation. CLL is the most frequent adult leukemia in Western countries, accounting for 25 to 30% of all white leukemic patients. OBJECTIVE To evaluate clinical and staging characteristics in prognosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. DESIGN Evaluation of clinical-staging data. SETTING Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina / Universidade de Alfenas. SAMPLE 73 patients diagnosed from 1977 to 1994. MAIN MEASUREMENTS Sex, ethnic origin, age, lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, three or more areas of lymphoid enlargement, hemoglobin (g/dl), lymphocytes/mm3, Platelets/mm3 RESULTS Mean survival of patients was 76 months, median age was 65 years, ranging from 33 to 87. Forty-four patients (60.3%) were male and 29 (39.7%) female. CONCLUSION The Binet system determined a better prognosis than Rai.