Karyotypic findings in chronic myeloid leukemia cases undergoing treatment

Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative expansion of primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells.
Materials and Methods: In the present study, CML samples were collected from various hospitals in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
Results: Chromosomal alterations seen in peripheral blood lymphocytes of these treated and untreated cases of CML were satellite associations, double minutes, random loss, gain of C group chromosomes and presence of marker chromosome. No aberrations were observed in control samples. Karyotypic abnormalities have also been noted in the Ph-negative cells of some patients in disease remission.
Conclusion: This is a novel phenomenon whose prognostic implications require thorough and systematic evaluation.