My wife just had an exam and had a wbc of 16, 000 with numerous smudge cells. she is 47 and had no swelling of any kind. is this necessarily cll?

It can be: You should definitely discuss this with your wife and with her doctor. Usually smudge cells are indicative of something like a leukemia and warrant follow up with her doctor and probably a blood specialist.

Not necessarily: Smudge cells represent fragile white cells. While they are commonly associated with cll, and can suggest this diagnosis, they can also represent other disease processes. They can represent other b-cell diseases, some less serious, infectious mononucleosis, or other infectious processes. She should have this further evaluated by her primary doctor to rule out serious diseases.

Need more info: Smudge cells are not diagnostic of cll. You need to find out her differential count(percentage of lymphocytes in her total WBC count. Unless more than 70% to 80% of her white cell count is lymphocytes, she do not have cll.I would repeat her blood count once more before getting concerned.