RATIONALE: Gathering information about patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia may help doctors learn more about the disease and find better methods of treatment and on-going care.

PURPOSE: This natural history study is collecting health information and disease-related information over time from patients with newly diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia.

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine the impact of current procedures for diagnosis, management, and follow-up on disease status of patients with newly diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
• Determine the natural history of patients with CML who achieve response to imatinib mesylate.
• Determine the health perceptions, symptoms, insurance issues, and work issues of these patients.
• Determine whether medication compliance and planned dose reduction affect imatinib mesylate effectiveness in these patients.
• Determine the molecular and biologic factors associated with disease progression and good and poor response to imatinib mesylate in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a longitudinal, prospective, cohort study.

Patients complete quality of life, functional status, medical and treatment history, and medication questionnaires at baseline and then every 6 months for 5 years.

Blood samples are collected at baseline and then every 6 months for 5 years. Specimens may be examined in the future in gene array studies and mutation analyses.

Age 18 years and over Diagnosis within one year of enrollment

Chronic myelogenous leukemia of any phase