Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia, also known as chronic myelogenous leukemia or chronic granulocytic leukemia, is a cancer of the white blood cells characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of myeloid cells in the bone marrow and their accumulation in the blood. It is associated with the Philadelphia chromosome, a characteristic chromosomal translocation, and tyrosine-kinase inhibitors have dramatically improved survival rates since 2001; in Western countries it accounts for 15 to 25 percent of adult leukemias, and there were about 298,000 cases and 32,200 deaths worldwide in 2015.