title: Lymphocyte doubling time in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: analysis of its prognostic significance.
abstract: In 100 untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) lymphocyte doubling time (LDT) has been investigated in relationship with clinical stages, bone marrow histological patterns, treatment-free period and survival. Although partially correlated with clinical stages and bone marrow patterns, LDT has a clear prognostic significance by itself: whereas a LDT of 12 or less months identifies a population of patients with poor prognosis, a LDT higher than 12 months is indicative of good prognosis as substantiated by a long treatment-free period and survival. This simple parameter can be useful in the clinical management of CLL patients.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies