Survival for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)
Survival (
) for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) depends on several factors such as age. No one can tell you exactly how long you will live.
CML is usually a slowly developing condition and treatment can keep it under control for many years.
Your doctor might tell you that you can expect to have the same length of life as people without CML. But some people are diagnosed in the accelerated or blast phase. Unfortunately it can be harder to control this stage of CML.
called generally work very well to control CML. People can go into remission for many years. This is when the disease isn’t active, you don't have symptoms and there are no signs of CML in your tests.
Below are general statistics based on large groups of people. Remember, they can’t tell you what will happen in your individual case.
Your doctor can give you more information about your own outlook (prognosis).
You can also talk about this with the Cancer Research UK information nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.
The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They record what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.
5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.
Survival statistics
No UK-wide statistics are available for CML survival. Statistics are available for people diagnosed with CML in England between 2014 and 2016.
Generally for all people with CML:
- more than 90 out of 100 people (more than 90%) will survive their CML for 1 year or more after being diagnosed
-
80 out of 100 people (80%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after being diagnosed
This is for all ages. Younger people tend to do slightly better than older people.
Remember that most people don't die from their leukaemia. When they do die, its is from conditions unrelated to their leukaemia.
For those younger than 70:
- more than 90 out of 100 (more than 90%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after diagnosis
For those who are 70 or older:
- around 55 out of 100 people (around 55%) will survive their CML for 5 years or more after diagnosis
National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), detailed statistics from the ‘Get Data Out’ programme, accessed June 2025
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2014 and 2016.
These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
Doctors use the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition (ICD-O-3) to categorise tumours. They use it to code the site of the tumour (where it is in the body) and the sub type (what the cells look like under the microscope - histology or morphology). These survival statistics are for CML with the following ICD-O-3 code:
- 9875/3, 9863/3
What affects survival
Your outlook depends on how well the treatment works, and how well your body copes with the treatment side effects. It also depends on your general health and whether you have any other illnesses.
Several factors can affect your outlook (prognosis). These are called prognostic factors. Doctors can look at these prognostic factors to predict how you might respond to treatment. Some of these factors include:
- your age - younger people have a better prognosis
- having a low
platelet count - how many blasts you have in your blood – blasts are new, immature blood cells
- how large your
spleen is - changes to
genes (mutations )
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and CML, go to Cancer Research UK's Cancer Statistics section.
You can call the Cancer Research UK information nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, if you would like to discuss anything further after reading this page.
