Leukemia, acute myeloid
A quickly progressive malignancy in which there are too many immature blood-forming cells that are precursors to the granulocytes or monocytes in the blood and bone marrow. Abbreviated AML. AML can occur in children and adults. In AML, the red blood cell levels may be low, causing anemia; platelet levels may be low, causing bleeding and bruising; and the white blood cell levels may be low, leading to infections. Treatments for AML include chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. The treatment of the subtype of AML called acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) differs from that for other forms of AML; it uses all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), which induces a complete response in 70 percent of cases and extends survival. Also known as acute myelogenous leukemia and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL).
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- Leukemia, acute nonlymphocytic
Abbreviated ANLL. More commonly called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A quickly progressive malignant disease in which there are too many immature blood-forming cells in the blood and bone marrow, the cells being specifically those destined to give rise to the granulocytes or monocytes, both types of white blood cells that fight infections. In AML, these […]
- Leukemia, blastic phase of
A stage in which 30 percent or more of the cells in the bone marrow or blood are blast cells, which may form tumors.
- Leukemia, chronic phase of
A stage in which there are few blast cells in the blood or bone marrow, and few if any symptoms.
- Leukemia, chronic lymphocytic
The most common form of leukemia in adults, in which lymphocytes look fairly normal but are not fully mature and do not function correctly against infection. The malignant cells are found in blood and bone marrow, collect in and enlarge the lymph nodes, and may crowd out other blood cells in the bone marrow, resulting […]
- Leukemia, hairy cell
A rare type of chronic leukemia in which the abnormal white blood cells appear to be covered with tiny hairs when examined microscopically. The hairy cells are malignant B lymphocytes. There may be too few normal blood cells of all types because of an excess of leukemic cells in the bone marrow. The deficit of […]