Chromosomal characteristics of chronic and blastic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia. A study of 100 patients in India

We report the cytogenetic findings of 100 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) (72 patients in chronic phase (CP) and 28 patients in blastic phase (BP)). Of the 95 Ph + patients, six had Ph variant translocations involving chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 10, and 12. The percentage frequency of patients with chromosomal changes other than Ph was 7.3%. The additional aberrations (e.g, +Ph, +8, i(17q), and +19 were observed in 66.6% of BP patients. Of these anomalies, the frequency of +Ph and +19 was higher in our patients than the incidence reported in literature. The association of +Ph and +19 in patients with extramedullary T-cell blast crisis is an unusual finding as compared with reports in the literature and could be explained by geographic heterogeneity.