Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a cancer of the blood. The leukaemia is termed ‘chronic’ because it develops very slowly.
When a patient develops CLL the process of producing new blood cells is disrupted. The blood cells divide too quickly and are released into the blood before they are fully developed. This means that that they do not work properly. Eventually the abnormal cells outnumber and replace the normal blood cells.
Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of CLL vary from patient to patient but may include the following:
- A feeling of exhaustion
- pale skin
- increased bruising of the skin
- swollen lymph glands
- night sweats
- weight loss.
Many of these symptoms are caused by the increased numbers of abnormal blood cells and a decrease in the amount of normal blood cells in the blood stream and the bone marrow.