Expectancy for Life in Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia

Survival data were calculated for 125 patients with chronic lymphaticleukemia seen at the University of Minnesota Hospitals during the years 1945to 1957 and followed for another 4 years. An actuarial method and modifiedmaximum likelihood method were used for the statistical analyses.

The survival times in this study are significantly longer than those reportedpreviously in large reference series of chronic leukemia. They more nearlyapproximate the results reported by Osgood for patients treated by his methodof total body irradiation. It is suggested that in a disease with a wide clinicalspectrum such as chronic lymphatic leukemia, differences in survival may bemainly related to differences in the composition of the groups being studied.

Submitted on September 16, 1963 Accepted on April 24, 1964