Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia - CML |
Update: May 10th, 2001 Gleevec was approved by the FDA!!!!Why do I have a CML page?On March 23, 2000 my friend Gale was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML. The time after that was very tough to handle, and one way of handling it was to learn as much as possible about CML. And since both of us are in the computer field, we naturally went to the internet to search for information. There is a lot of information out there and below you can find some links to good websites where you can read more about leukemia, the companies/hospitals doing research, personal pages and some general health links.One of the best avenues to get information and meet other people with CML is to go to the eGroups CML messageboard. Just sign up and start reading messages from people affected by CML. There are some great people active on the board that have tons of information. Gale is doing good with the medication she is taking but I hope that next year she will be able to take Gleevec (formerly known as CGP57148B, STI571 and Glivec), the new drug from Novartis that has shown great promise and helped a lot of people back into remission. The drug is on a fasttrack approval program with FDA and will most likely be approved in the 3rd quarter of 2001. Go to The Unofficial Gleevec (STI571) site for excellent information about this new exciting drug. Don't forget to pay a visit to Gale's own website at: http://www.divergal.com. What is CML?CML is shorthand for chronic myeloid, chronic myelocytic or chronic myelogenous leukemia (also known as chronic granulocytic leukemia or cgl). CML is a form of leukemia which affects the cells which make granulocytes (the polymorphs that eat bacteria) and the platelets (the little cells which help the blood to clot). In its early stages it produces an increase in the numbers of granulocytes and platelets but these cells still function normally and the patient may have no symptoms. This situation may continue for 3 or 4 years (known as chronic phase) and the disease may be unsuspected with the diagnosis made incidentally in the course of an insurance examination or a pre-anesthetic work-up. However, eventually the nature of the disease changes and CML starts to behave like other leukemias. These changes are called transformation and are often slight to start with (accelerated phase), but within 6 months or so usually progress to the full-blown leukemic picture (blast phase). Survival from the development of blast phase is usually measured in months. CML is one of the myeloproliferative disorders.(Quote from CML FAQ. For more information, see the links below.) |
