Blast crisis in CML

Q; Which blast crisis is more common in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)? - select one

A) Lymphoid 

B) Myeloid 

Answer: B

Myeloid blast crisis i.e., AML accounts for 70 percent of CML blast crisis. In such instance, the preferred initial treatment is tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), with or without chemotherapy followed by an allogeneic  hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).

Lymphoid blast crisis i.e., acute lymphoblastic leukemia ALL accounts for about 30 percent of CML blast crisis. Lymphoid blast crisis often responds to treatments used for Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL). For TKI and chemotherapy oncology should be consulted.

#oncology 

Reference:

WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues, revised 4th edition, Swerdlow SH, Campo E, Harris NL, et al. (Eds), International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon 2017.