Most patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are diagnosed with early stage disease and are managed with active surveillance, but there is much uncertainty over when to start treatment. A simple prognostic model, based on the sum of three routine tests, can now help with this decision, say researchers.

The new score is effective in predicting the amount of time a patient with CLL will likely have before requiring treatment, the team notes. “Other prognostic scores that are available mostly aim at predicting overall survival of patients who are in need of therapy,” first author Adalgisa Condoluci, MD, Department of Hematology, Institute of Oncology Research, Bellinzona, Switzerland, told Medscape Medical News

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