Evaluation of the treatment responses of CLL patients followed at Gazi University Hospital

Evaluation of the treatment responses of CLL patients followed at Gazi University HospitalSeventy-one patients who got the diagnosis of CLL between the years 1998-2011 were included in the study. The impact of the therapy regimen and prognostic factors on the response, time to next treatment, and survival was investigated.The age, gender, hemoglobin level, white cell count, platelet count, lymphocyte doubling time, lactate dehydrogenase level, CD38 and Zap-70 expression level, bone marrow infiltration pattern, free serum light chain levels and FISH results of patients were recorded. The patients were divided into three goups according to the treatment regimen they received. The first group consisted of patients who received alkylating agents based treatment. The patients in the second group received fludarabin alone or in combination with other agents except rituximab. The third goup consisted of patients who were treated with chemoimmunotherapy. It came out that chemoimmunotherapy and treatment regimens containing fludarabin were superior to the alkylating agents regarding response to treatment (p=0.007; odds ratio (OR), 20.0; and p=0.011; OR, 16.1 respectively).