About CML

Ph+ CML (Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia) is a rare disease of the bone marrow and blood, It is caused by a genetic change in a kind of cell call a stem cell (or a mother cell) which normally develops into mature white cells that populate our blood these are called neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils and monocytes,
CML is a rare disease, 1.5 in 100,00 per population. It is very rare in young adults under 19 years and ultra rare in children. It is often asymptomatic or symptoms can be mistaken for more common illnesses. It has three phases: Chronic, Accelerated and Blast phases. The majority of people are diagnosed in the first, or chronic phase (CP). Without effective treatment it progresses (over 3-5years) to accelerated phase (AP) and then finally blast phase (BP). Accelerated phase can be successfully treated with TKI therapies, however some may require more complex treatment. The blast phase (BP) is very difficult to treat and resembles an acute leukaemia which requires intensive chemotherapy and, in eligible patients, a stem cell transplant (SCT) which should be preformed at a specialist transplant centre.

Chromosomes are string-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. The word chromosome is derived from the Greek words “chromo” meaning colour and “soma” meaning body. Scientists gave this name to chromosomes because the structures become strongly stained when colourful dyes are applied to them.

Anyone who’s spent any time at all reading the literature about CML will know it is riddled with dense medical terminology. If you’re new to CML this can be overwhelming. Here are the top 10 facts you need to know right now.

As a community of patients and supporters, we help one another to learn about our disease in detail. It's our responsibility to educate ourselves about CML in order to be able to help ourselves find the ideal treatment pathways to wellbeing.