World Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Day on 22nd September 2022, leading medical experts emphasize the need of creating awareness about the condition, a relatively uncommon type of bone marrow and blood cancer.
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) occurs with an incidence rate of 0.4 to 3.9 per 100,000 patients, which increases with age and has a slight male preponderance. It is a chronic disease in which patients must take lifelong treatment and hence, experts stress its appropriate management and adherence to treatment.
CML occurs due to spontaneous chromosome mutationwhich causes diseased white blood cells to build up in huge numbers, crowding out healthy blood cells and damaging the bone marrow. Dr Jina Bhattacharyya, DM Clinical Hematology (AIIMS) Professor and Head Department of Clinical Hematology,Gauhati Medical College& Hospital Guwahatisays,“ Today in 2022 the aim of treatment is to give the patient Treatment Free Remission (TFR) which means if the patient is maintaining deep remission status for more than two years, then the treating Hemato-oncologist may decide to discontinue the treatment and one may not have to continue taking the drug life-long.Therefore, patience and discipline while taking the oral medicine can make the patient disease free and one can lead a normal good quality life.”