LENS CHANGES IN CHRONIC GRANULOCYTIC LEUKEMIA - POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP TO CHEMOTHERAPY

Forty-three patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia were studied. Four had posterior subcapsular lens opacities, 10 had irregularity and polychromatic lens changes in the posterior subcapsular zone, with or without vacuoles, and 29 were free of such changes. The presence of lens changes was correlated with the known duration of disease and duration of therapy with the two major chemotherapeutic agents utilized, Myleran and dibromomannitol. A possible role of these chemotherapeutic drugs in the production of human lens changes was suggested, although effects of the leukemic process on the lens could not be ruled out. © 1969.