Chronic lymphoid leukemia
Similar to chronic myeloid leukemia, CLL is also diagnosed through a complete blood test, which is usually performed to detect other diseases. To fully diagnose the disease, it must be associated with persistent changes in the blood count values, and doctors should order a peripheral blood smear. Imaging studies are useful to detect splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, but they are usually very large and determined by physical examination only. Different from other types of leukemia, the diagnosis of chronic lymphoid leukemia is based on finding the Philadephia chromosome in the cells of the bone marrow. Thus, it requires a histopathologic and genetic analysis of the bone marrow and the peripheral blood. Other tests that may be useful depending on each patient include blood chemistry and specific tests and cultures in infected patients.