Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)

About half of all people with CML do not have symptoms at the time the disease is diagnosed. In these people the disease is found during routine blood tests.

Blood tests are done to count the different types of blood cells. A blood sample is looked at under the microscope and, if an abnormally high number of mature and maturing white blood cells are noted, a bone marrow biopsy may be done.

A bone biopsy involves the insertion of a needle into a bone to take a small sample of bone marrow. The sample is then looked at under the microscope. A diagnosis of CML is based, in part, on the finding of the Philadelphia chromosome in cells of the bone marrow.

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