Abstract

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to assess patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with respect to their general clinical features, first-line treatments, survival time, and factors affecting treatment response.

METHODS

This study retrospectively enrolled 169 patients with available medical records of 188 patients who were under follow-up with CLL at Training and Research Hospital, Department of Hematology between 2009 and 2018.

RESULTS

Among 169 patients enrolled in the study, 90 were male and 79 were female; the study population had a median age of 65 (min 37-max 89) years. An analysis of Rai staging at the time of diagnosis revealed that fifty-seven (33.7%) patients had stage 0 disease; twenty-nine (17.2%) stage 1 disease; sixty-eight (40.2%) stage 2 disease; four (2.4%) patients stage 3 disease; and eleven (6.5%) patients stage IV disease. The mean duration of follow-up was 42.57 months; during that period, 134 (79.2%) patients received no therapy, and 35 (20.2%) patients received therapy. The first-line therapy was administered to 35 patients, of whom 16 (45.7%) received Rituximab-Fludarabin and Cyclophosphamide (R-FC); 5 (14.2%) Fludarabin and Cyclophosphamide (FC); 3 (8.5%) chlorambucil; 5 (14.2%) Rituximab-Chlorambucil; 2 (5.7%) the combination of Rituximab, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, and Prednisone (R-CHOP); 2 (5.7%) Bendamustine; 1 (2.8%) the combination of cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone (CVP) and 1 (2.8%) Rituximab-CVP. The mean survival time of the untreated patients and treated patients were 99.4 months and 89.7 months, respectively. Thirty-eight (22.5%) patients died.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The demographic features of our patients were similar to those reported in previous studies. An analysis of treatment-based survival time revealed that it was significantly longer in the untreated patients than the treated ones.