Mike - Slaney and Sqad have both made very good points.
Difficult to give a general prognosis - CLL is insidious, with symptoms developing slowly. There is currently no curative treatment - even so, most patients have a long survival time, and there are many palliative treatments available. Median survival time is 7-10 years from diagnosis, but a significant minority can survive longer.
Staging of the disease is essentially a measure of the degree of spread throughout the lymphatic system and the severity of the disease itself - the more comprehensive the spread,or profound the symptoms, such as anaemia, the more vigorously the disease needs treating.
Cytogenetic studies have been helpful in identifying specific genetic markers which can give an idea as to how the disease might spread.
To review - Health professionals will first attempt to detemine the nature and stage of the CLL. Assuming it is an early stage of the illness,It is very likely that no specific treatment of the CLL itself may happen.
They will make assessments as to secondary problems associated with CLL - infections, or anaemia etc - These will be treated appropriately.
Should the CLL have presented at a higher stage, then a decision will be made as to the most relevant treatment - most common is chemotherapy, often a combination therapy, coupled with a range of other treatment options, ranging from targeted therapy such as monoclonal antibodies, through to localised radiotherapy.Steroids can be prescribed, both to aid in the treatment of CLL and also to mitigate the effects of the chemo.
Surgery may also be considered (splenectomy) to manage a patient with a severe associated anaemia.
Overall then, it is ,unfortunately ,a common disease of the elderly - but a well understood disease offerening a lengthy median survival rate from diagnosis and with many varied treatment options available. The specialist within the hospital mo