Working out survival
Your doctor might tell you that you can expect to have the same length of life as people without CML. But some people are diagnosed in the accelerated or blast phase. Unfortunately it can be harder to control this stage of CML.
Targeted cancer drugs called tyrosine kinase inhibitors generally work very well to control CML. People can go into remission for many years. This is when the disease isn’t active, you don’t have symptoms and there are no signs of CML in your tests.
Below are general statistics based on large groups of people. Remember, they can’t tell you what will happen in your individual case.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don’t mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.
The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They record what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.
5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.
Survival statistics
No UK-wide statistics are available for CML survival. Statistics are available for people diagnosed with CML in England between 2014 and 2016.
Generally for all people with CML:
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more than 90 out of 100 people (more than 90%) will survive their CML for 1 year or more after being diagnosed
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80 out of 100 people (80%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after being diagnosed
This is for all ages. Younger people tend to do slightly better than older people.
Remember that most people don’t die from their leukaemia. When they do die, its is from conditions unrelated to their leukaemia.
For those younger than 70:
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more than 90 out of 100 (more than 90%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those who are 70 or older:
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around 55 out of 100 people (around 55%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after diagnosis
What affects survival
Your outlook depends on how well the treatment works, and how well your body copes with the treatment side effects. It also depends on your general health and whether you have any other illnesses.
Several factors can affect your outlook (prognosis). These are called prognostic factors. Doctors can look at these prognostic factors to predict how you might respond to treatment. Some of these factors include:
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your age – younger people have a better prognosis
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having a low platelet count
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how many blasts you have in your blood – blasts are new, immature blood cells
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how large your spleen is
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changes to genes (mutations)
Read about treatment for CML
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and CML, go to Cancer Research UK’s Cancer Statistics section.