ABSTRACT
Recent advances in our understanding of biology and natural history of chronic lympho cytic leukemia (CLL), accompanied by the emergency of new therapeutic options pose a continuous challenge to physicians treating CLL patients (1-4). Many patients are now being diagnosed while asymptomatic and at a much younger age than previously, thus resulting in a longer overall survival (5,6). However, it is not clear whether the aforemen tioned changes have represented a true modification in the natural history of disease or more realistically are epiphenomena of other conditions. Whatever the explanation might be, different therapeutical philosophies, mainly inspired by the patients’ age, should be taken into account when making treatment decisions (7). As a prerequisite for an optimal choice of therapy, prognostic assessment at the time of diagnosis should be as accurate as possible.
