Diagnosis
When leukemia is diagnosed, your WellStar physician will categorize it by the type and subtype. Leukemia is not "staged" as other cancers are, because typically staging refers to how large a tumor is and whether it has spread to other parts of the body. Leukemia already has spread to parts of the body because it is a blood cancer, and thus staging in the traditional sense of cancer staging is not meaningful.
Leukemia Stages
Your WellStar physician will, however, determine certain key aspects of your leukemia to give you and your treatment team a clear understanding of the progression of your disease.
Adult acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is classified as:
- In remission
- Recurrent
- Untreated
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is classified as:
- Chronic phase - mild symptoms and responsive to treatment.
- Accelerated phase - symptoms more pronounced.
- Blast phase - blast count rises to more than 30 percent as the disease progresses like acute leukemia.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is classified in more traditional staging:
- 0 - Low risk
- 1-2 - Intermediate risk
- 3-4 - High risk