Types Of Leukemia

Thousands of people, ranging from children to middle-aged and old adults, are suffering from the deadly disease - cancer, in the present times. Of the different types of cancer, one is Leukemia, described as the cancer of the blood or bone marrow. In this disease, abnormal cells (leukemia cells) grow and multiply rapidly, posing a threat to the growth of normal and healthy cells in the body, mainly the white blood cells (leukocytes). Go through the article and explore information about the different types of leukemia.

 

 

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia

Although Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) can affect adults, it is most common in children in the age group of 4-5 years. Characterized by excess lymphoblasts in the body, this type of leukemia affects the immature white blood cells and progresses rapidly. ALL damages the blood cells, crowds out the healthy cells in the bone marrow and eventually, spreads to other organs. This disease is also known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute childhood leukemia.

In the case of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), the normal bone marrow of a person gets replaced with leukemic (abnormal) cells, leading to a dip in the count of platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells. Also called acute myelogenous leukemia, this disease is characterized by the rapid proliferation of abnormal cells and their accumulation in the bone marrow. These cells cause hindrance to the production of normal blood cells.

 

Also called as chronic lymphoid leukemia, CLL is a type of leukemia that affects the white blood cells i.e. lymphocytes. The DNA of a B cell, which originates in the bone marrow and develops in the lymph nodes, is damaged by the abnormal cells. Consequently, the B cells do not work normally and stop their function of fighting against infections. In other words, leukemia cells grow rapidly, crowd out the normal blood cells and accumulate in the bone marrow and blood.

 

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is defined as clonal bone marrow stem cell disorder. Also known as chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL), the disease is characterized by rapid and unregulated growth of myeloid cells in the bone marrow. The abnormal cells accumulate themselves in the blood, crowding out the mature granulocytes. This leads to gene mutation, called the Philadelphia chromosome.   

Hairy Cell Leukemia is a rare blood cancer. It is a slow-growing disease, which causes the bone marrow to make excess of B cells (lymphocytes), a condition which is considered abnormal for the body. The excess cells hamper the production of healthy cells, like white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. B cells look like "hairy" structures, when seen under a high-resolution microscope, thus the name of the disease.