What is Leukemia?
What is Leukemia?
- Leukemia: Cancer of the blood cells, usually white blood cells.
- Leukemia: Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells. (Source: excerpt from What You Need To Know About Leukemia: NCI)
- Leukemia: A malignant (clonal) hematologic disorder, involving hematopoietic stem cells and characterized by the presence of primitive or atypical myeloid or lymphoid cells in the bone marrow and the blood. Leukemias are classified as acute or chronic based on the degree of cellular differentiation and the predominant cell type present. Leukemia is usually associated with anemia, fever, hemorrhagic episodes and splenomegaly. Common leukemias include acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphoblastic or precursor lymphoblastic leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Treatment is vital to patient survival; untreated, the natural course of acute leukemias is normally measured in weeks or months, while that of chronic leukemias is more often measured in months or years. -- 2004
Source - Diseases Database
- Leukemia: malignant neoplasm of blood-forming tissues; characterized by abnormal proliferation of leukocytes; one of the four major types of cancer.
Source - WordNet 2.1
Leukemia: Introduction
Types of Leukemia:
Types of Leukemia:
Broader types of Leukemia:
How many people get Leukemia?
Incidence (annual) of Leukemia: 30,800 annual cases in USA (SEER 2002 estimate) including 10,800 lymphocytic, 15,000 myeloid and 5,000 other leukemias; about 29,000 cases annually (NCI); nearly 27,000 adults and more than 2,000 children annually.
Incidence Rate of Leukemia: approx 1 in 8,831 or 0.01% or 30,800 people in USA [about data]
Incidence of Leukemia: Each year, nearly 27,000 adults and more than 2,000
children in the United States learn that they have leukemia . (Source: excerpt from What You Need To Know About Leukemia: NCI)
Who gets Leukemia?
Patient Profile for Leukemia: Any age from childhood to elderly; different age groups tend to get different types of leukemia.
Gender Profile for Leukemia: Males more than females.
Gender Profile for Leukemia: leukemia occurs in males more often than in females (Source: excerpt from What You Need To Know About Leukemia: NCI)
Race Profile for Leukemia: in white people more often than in black people. (Source: excerpt from What You Need To Know About Leukemia: NCI)
How serious is Leukemia?
Complications of Leukemia:
see complications of Leukemia
Deaths for Leukemia: 21,014 deaths reported in USA 1999 (NVSR Sep 2001)
What causes Leukemia?
Causes of Leukemia: see causes of Leukemia
Risk factors for Leukemia:
see
risk factors for Leukemia
What are the symptoms of Leukemia?
Symptoms of Leukemia:
see symptoms of Leukemia
Complications of Leukemia:
see complications of Leukemia
Can anyone else get Leukemia?
Contagion of cancer: generally not; see details in contagion of cancer.
Inheritance:
see inheritance of Leukemia
Leukemia: Testing
Diagnostic testing: see tests for Leukemia.
Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Leukemia.
How is it treated?
Doctors and Medical Specialists for Leukemia: Oncologists, Hematologists, Pediatric oncologists, Pediatric hematologists
;
see also doctors and medical specialists for Leukemia.
Treatments for Leukemia:
see treatments for Leukemia
Research for Leukemia:
see research for Leukemia
Society issues for Leukemia
Hospitalization statistics for Leukemia:
The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Leukemia:
- 0.37% (46,787) of hospital consultant episodes were for lymphoid leukaemia in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 97% of hospital consultant episodes for lymphoid leukaemia required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 62% of hospital consultant episodes for lymphoid leukaemia were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 38% of hospital consultant episodes for lymphoid leukaemia were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- more statistics...»
Organs Affected by Leukemia:
Organs and body systems related to Leukemia include:
Name and Aliases of Leukemia
Main name of condition: Leukemia
Class of Condition for Leukemia: cancer
Other names or spellings for Leukemia:
Leukaemia
Leukaemia (generic)
Source - Diseases Database
Leukemia, Leucaemia, Cancer of the blood, Leukaemia, Leucaemia, Cancer of the blood
Source - WordNet 2.1
Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Leukemia:
A routine check-up may find that you have too many white blood cells, a sign of leukemia. What can be done? Learn about leukemia and how new...
The genetics of chronic myeloid leukemia are now well understood. Listen to researchers as they explain the path they took to their remarkable...
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL accounts for 25% of all leukemias in the U.S., most common in adults over 50. It affects certain white blood...
A wide range of laboratory tests is used to monitor a patient's response to therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia. Listen to experts explain the...
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» Next page: Online Medical Textbooks for Leukemia
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