What is leukemia summary?
Leukemia is a term for cancers of the blood cells. Leukemia starts in blood-forming tissues such as the bone marrow. Your bone marrow makes the cells which will develop into white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
What is the expected outcome of leukemia?
Latest figures show that the 5-year survival rate for all subtypes of leukemia is 61.4 percent . A 5-year survival rate looks at how many people are still alive 5 years after their diagnosis. Leukemia is most common in people aged over 55, with the median age of diagnosis being 66.
What is the importance of leukemia?
Leukemia is a type of cancer found in your blood and bone marrow and is caused by the rapid production of abnormal white blood cells. These abnormal white blood cells are not able to fight infection and impair the ability of the bone marrow to produce red blood cells and platelets.
How do you end up with leukemia?
The exact cause of most childhood leukemias is not known. Most children with leukemia do not have any known risk factors. Still, scientists have learned that certain changes in the DNA inside normal bone marrow cells can cause them to grow out of control and become leukemia cells.
How are the different types of leukemia classified?
Doctors classify leukemia based on its speed of progression and the type of cells involved. The first type of classification is by how fast the leukemia progresses: Acute leukemia. In acute leukemia, the abnormal blood cells are immature blood cells (blasts).
What’s the difference between acute and chronic leukemia?
The first type of classification is by how fast the leukemia progresses: Acute leukemia. In acute leukemia, the abnormal blood cells are immature blood cells (blasts). Chronic leukemia. There are many types of chronic leukemias.
What happens to your white blood cells when you have leukemia?
Leukemia usually involves the white blood cells. Your white blood cells are potent infection fighters — they normally grow and divide in an orderly way, as your body needs them. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells, which don’t function properly.
Why do leukemia cells grow faster than normal cells?
There may be other changes in the cells that have yet to be fully understood that could contribute to leukemia. Certain abnormalities cause the cell to grow and divide more rapidly and to continue living when normal cells would die.