Prognostic signs in chronic myelocytic leukemia.

In a retrospective search for prognostic factors in 127 patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia we found that thrombocytopenic patients had a significantly shortened life-span. Patients with the Philadelphia chromosome lived longer and were significantly younger than those lacking it. Females lived longer than males. Numerous other single features failed to correlate significantly with survival, but several combinations of two did. Patients having a low hematocrit with a low white blood count had an impressively short life-span compared to all others. Those having a high cholesterol and a low uric acid survived significantly longer than all others.