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Summary.-One hundred and nineteen unselected and similarly treated patients with Ph1-positive chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) had the precise nature of their chromosome rearrangements producing the Ph1 studied to determine whether this had any clinical relevance. Eighteen (15°,) did not have the usual 9/22 translocation and these, by life-table analysis, had a significantly shorter benign phase of their disease than the others (P<0.01). It further appeared that possession of a nonstandard Ph' was related to age, in that whereas only 24 patients were over 60 at diagnosis, 9 (33%) had a non-9/22 translocation (P<0.01).As the duration of the benign phase seemed to be shorter in those over 60 irrespective of Ph' type (P<0.01), the question arose whether non-standard PhI chromosomes were simply occurring in older patients or whether they were affecting prognosis independently. Their independent effect was suggested by the 11 patients under 60 with a non-9/22 Ph' who still had a significantly shorter benign phase than the 84 of similar age with a standard Ph' (P< 0.01). It is concluded that the myeloid karyotype can provide prognostic as well as diagnostic information in patients with CGL.

The effects of NMR line-scan imaging procedures and static homogeneous magnetic fields of 0.5 and 1.0 tesla on cells from human blood have been investigated by examining their influence on the frequency of gross lesions, sister chromatid exchanges and on the proportion of amodal cells. Cultured human blood cells have also been submitted to extended NMR imaging exposure during active growth and division. Neither treatment had any significant effect on any of the parameters measured.

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