About Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood. In leukemia, normal blood cells are transformed in ways that lead to high counts of white blood cells.

Myeloid leukemia develops from cells that give rise to white blood cells called granulocytes and monocytes. The main function of granulocytes is to destroy bacteria.

The term “chronic” means that the disease progresses slowly over a period of time, unlike acute leukemias which develop quickly. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is considered a pre-leukemic condition. CML cells have genetic abnormalities that lead to excessive growth of blood cells. But it does not cause the same complications seen in other related fast-growing leukemias like acute myeloid leukemia.