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cmml, or c hronic myelomonocytic leukemia, is a rare type of blood cancer that accounts for about three in a million cancer diagnoses in canada, according to the leukemia and lymphoma society of canada (llsc). the majority of people diagnosed with cmml are between 65 and 75, and it’s twice as common in men as in women.
“it’s not terribly common,” says dr. jeff lipton , an oncologist at princess margaret cancer centre in toronto who specializes in leukemia and stem cell transplants – the course of treatment if a donor match is found for patients with the acute and aggressive form of cmml.
for people who have the disease at its earliest stage cmml-0, it may never progress or require any treatment. cmml-0 means that less than two per cent of the white cells in the blood and less than five per cent of the cells in the bone marrow is made up of blast cells. there are two other stages as well, cmml-1, where blast cells make up less than five per cent of white cells in the blood and less than 10 per cent of the cells in the bone marrow, and cmml-2, where b last cells make up five to 20 per cent of the white cells in the blood, or they make up 10 to 20 per cent of the cells in the bone marrow.
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