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Blood, 3 September 2009, Vol. 114, No. 10, pp. 2044-2050. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on June 24, 2009; DOI 10.1182/blood-2009-04-214346. This Article Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Tables All Versions of this Article: blood-2009-04-214346v1 114/10/2044    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Abrisqueta, P. Articles by Montserrat, E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Abrisqueta, P. Articles by Montserrat, E. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Next Article  Submitted April 6, 2009 Accepted June 13, 2009 Improving survival in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (1980-2008): the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona experience Pau Abrisqueta, Arturo Pereira, Ciril Rozman, Marta Aymerich, Eva Gine, Carol Moreno, Ana Muntanola, Maria Rozman, Neus Villamor, Kate Hodgson, Elias Campo, Francesc Bosch, and Emili Montserrat* Institute of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Hematology, Hospital Clinic IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Hemotherapy and Blood Bank, Hospital Clinic IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Hospital Clinic IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Hematopathology Unit, Hospital Clinic IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain * Corresponding author; email: emontse{at}clinic.ub.es. Whether advances in treatment are prolonging survival of patients with CLL is unclear. We analyzed presentation patterns and survival over the time in 929 patients followed from 1980 to 2008 at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. The 5- and 10-year relative survival (adjusted for the expected survival in the general population) was estimated in patients seen in two periods of time: 1980-1994 (n=451) and 1995-2004 (n=365). We found that CLL shortens life expectancy in all age groups independently of clinical features at diagnosis. Nevertheless, survival is improving, particularly in some groups of patients. Thus, relative survival was significantly higher in the 1995-2004 cohort than in the 1980-1994 group both at 5 years [Incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.46, p=0.004] and 10 years (IRR: 0.65, p=0.007) from diagnosis. The improved survival was largely due to a decrease in CLL-attributable mortality in patients less than 70 years-old in Binet stage B or C at diagnosis (IRR: 0.40, p=0.001, and IRR=0.33, p<0.001, at 5 and 10 years, respectively). These results suggest that newer treatments are changing the prognosis of CLL, particularly in younger patients with advanced disease, while no improvement is yet observed in older subjects or those with lower-risk disease. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

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