Relationship of the duration of the chronic phase in chronic granulocytic leukaemia to the need for treatment during the first year after diagnosis.

From a data base of 203 patients with chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) seen at our institution during the period 1972-1981, we identified 25 patients in whom duration of the chronic phase could be accurately determined and who had received only busulphan or no treatment at all during the first year after diagnosis. Twenty-one of the patients had Ph1 chromosome-positive disease but in four patients the Ph1 status was unknown. We found a significant correlation between the total dose of busulphan administered during the first year of disease (range 300-1,300 mg) and the duration of chronic phase disease (range 13-72 months). In confirmation of this relationship, we identified a further 11 patients in chronic phase continuing 47-136 months after diagnosis in whom the total dose of busulphan administered in the first year of disease ranged from 0 to 300 mg. We conclude that calculation of the total dose of busulphan administered in the first year after diagnosis of chronic phase disease might allow prediction of the duration of the chronic phase in other patients and could be of value in selecting candidates for experimental therapeutic approaches, such as bone marrow transplantation.