What happens in the body as chronic lymphocytic leukemia progresses?

What happens in the body as CLL progresses?

CLL is unique in that it's a chronic blood cancer so actually not everyone with CLL needs treatment these are rough estimates but at the time a patient's diagnosed with CLL approximately one-third of patients will need treatment right away another third of patients never need treatment for their CLL it can be actively observed and monitored with your doctor through Labs or physical exam and then another third might not need treatment right away but will be monitored and will need treatment at some point during their disease course there's a whole set of reasons why CLL might need treatment really it simplifies down to is the CLL causing a problem for the patient some of the basic reasons that we would start treatment is it's affecting other blood counts like the hemoglobin your red blood cell measure can go low it's affecting the platelets your clotting cells if you were to get cut those can go low in some patients the the lymph nodes grow there's not an exact size cut off but there's a large lymph node coming out of the neck if there's a lymph node pressing on an organ like the liver or the kidney in some patients the spleen size actually grows and could cause symptoms and in some patients the CLL can actually cause symptoms including fatigue drenching night sweats and fevers so it really is a conversation with your doctor and a thorough assessment especially if you're you're in that camp of patients who doesn't need treatment right meet those criteria right away You're monitored over time to see if there's a development of symptoms