Clinical staging systems in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have proven to be very
useful in predicting the survival time of subpopulations of patients with similar body burdens
of leukemic cell mass. The Rai staging system is most widely used and has been modified
into a three-stage system of low, intermediate, and high risk groups. A method of predicting
the clinical course of the disease within the low and intermediate risk groups has been
devised that uses blood lymphocyte doubling time and pattern of lymphocytic infiltration in …