What Are the Stages of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia?

This content has been reviewed and approved by

Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD
Chairman & Professor, Leukemia Department
MD Anderson Cancer Center
University of Texas
 

It is important for your physician to know the stage of your disease. Staging is a system for describing how far the cancer has spread in the body. This information is essential when deciding the best treatment for you. Here is a list of the stages of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which we refer to often as Rai stages, after Dr. Kanti Rai who described them in 1975. 

  • Rai Stage 0: CLL is found only in the blood and bone marrow.
  • Rai Stage I: CLL is found in lymph nodes.
  • Rai Stage II: CLL involves the liver and/or spleen, with enlargement of these organs by simple physical exam.
  • Rai Stage III: CLL is now causing anemia.
  • Rai Stage IV: CLL is now causing low platelet counts.

This staging system is important because it predicts survival. It also gives a guide as when treatment of CLL should begin.

You may also experience general symptoms from your disease. Patients may have fatigue, fever, night sweats, or significant weight loss.

 CLL Stage  Approximate Average Survival
 0  More than 10 years
 I  8 years
 II  5-6 years
 III  3-4 years
 IV  3 years

Indolent CLL: Some people diagnosed with CLL have "indolent" disease. This usually refers to when they have a long "doubling time" of the peripheral lymphocyte count (usually more than 1 year), a good hemoglobin level (usually more than 12 grams per deciliter), and a low total lymphocyte count (usually less than 30,000 per microliter). These patients have the best survival times; in fact many live their normal life span without needing any therapy.

This content was last modified on August 11, 2007 .
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