Examination of a peripheral blood smear demonstrates leukemia composed of small mature lymphocytes without blast forms. Which of the following is the most likely age of this patient?
1 year
20 years
45 years
65 years
The disease described is chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is a disease of older adults. The 1 year-old (choice A) would be most likely to have acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). The 45 year-old (choice C) would be likely to have either AML or chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia