Acute Leukaemia
What Is It?
Leukaemia means a cancer of the blood forming system. The blood forming system is found in the bone marrow. The bone marrow is the soft inner part of your bones.Most types of leukaemia cause the bone marrow to make abnormal white blood cells. These cells can get into the blood stream and circulate around the body. They do not work normally and so do not give you the protection from infection that they should.
Because there are far too many of these abnormal white blood cells, they can build up in the lymph nodes, bone marrow and spleen and cause swelling. They can also affect the liver and the brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms
Many symptoms of acute leukaemia are vague and non-specific. You may feel as if you have flu. Possible symptoms can include:General weakness
Feeling tired (fatigue)
Fever
Weight loss
Frequent infections
Bruising easily or with no apparent cause
Bleeding from the gums or nose
A fine rash of dark red spots (this is called purpura)
Blood in your urine or stools
Pain in the bones or joints
Breathlessness
Swollen lymph glands
Feeling of fullness or discomfort in the abdomen, caused by a swollen liver or
spleen
These symptoms are caused by having too many abnormal white blood cells and not
enough normal white cells, red cells and platelets.
Treatment
The treatments used for acute leukaemia include:Chemotherapy
Steroid therapy
Growth factors
Radiotherapy
Bone marrow or stem cell transplant
Links
Leukaemia ResearchCancer Help
National Cancer Institute
Teen Info