Treatment response in CML   -   Chronic Myeloid Leukemia


"During treatment for CML, tests will be done to see how well treatment is working. Your blood and maybe bone marrow will likely be tested every 3 to 6 months for at least the first year. The tests look for the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome. They may also look for the BCR-ABL gene that almost all CML cells have. Testing is done to see if the treatment is destroying leukemia cells.
The main goal of treatment is to reduce or destroy cells with the Ph chromosome. This helps stop symptoms and puts the cancer into remission. Remission means there are no signs of the disease in the body.
Your healthcare team may look for 3 types of responses to treatment of CML. These include:  
Types of responses:
CBC (Complete Blood count)
​Hematologic response (HR)
Complete hematologic response (CHR)
Bone marrow cytogenetic or FISH
Major cytogenetic  response  (MCyR)
Complete cytogenetic  response (CCyR)
Quantitative PCR
Major molecular response  (MMR)
Complete molecular response (CMR)


 
​Reduction of white cells
Normal count of white cells
                 
​1 - 35% Ph+ cells
No Ph+ cells
 
​BCR-ABL IS ≤ 0.10%
no BCR-ABL detectible
 
           See also Resistance to treatment in CML
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                                         Modes of access to the website
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1 - Public access
     On several occasions, the CML patient called CMLer will need a password  to access several modules of the website.  .
                  (No registration required - Anonymous access)​
​2 - Reserved access to CMLeukemia private group
     On other occasions, the more experienced patients will need more up-to-date or in-depth information. Among other upcoming modules, they will need access to the archives and also to abstracts of congresses on CML.
​                  (Member password required and registration required).