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 There
are two main types of leukemia as well as several varieties of
both types: lymphocytic leukemia and myelogenous leukemia.
Lymphocytic
leukemia
(as its name indicates) is characterized by an increase in the
production of white blood cells called lymphocytes. In this type
of leukemia, most lymphocytes produced are abnormal and immature.
Myelogenous
leukemia
(also called myeloid or myeolocytic leukemia) is marked by an
increase in the production of white blood cells called granulocytes
that often lack the crucial ability to fight infections.
In
addition, leukemia can also occur in two forms: acute and chronic.
Acute leukemia means that the disease
progresses rapidly and usually life expectancy without treatment
is from a few weeks to a few months. Chronic
leukemia, however, progresses slowly and with the proper
treatment, expected life expectancy can be up to 20 years or more
after the onset of illness.
What
are some varieties of leukemia?
Several
varieties emerge from the two main types of Leukemia.
1.
Acute
Lymphocytic Leukemia
is an acquired disease caused by an injury to the DNA of a single
cell of the bone marrow. Its effect is the overgrowth and accumulation
of lymphocytes that block the function of normal marrow cells.
Life expectancy is short because it is a rapidly progressing
disease.
Symptoms of acute lymphocytic leukemia are as follow: Loss of
well-being, fatigue, pale complexion, bleeding, red spots under
skin, bone pain, fever, enlarged lymph glands, headaches and
vomiting.
2. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
is also an acquired disease caused by an injury to the DNA of
a single cell of the bone marrow that results in overgrowth
of lymphocytes. However, in the case of chronic lymphocytic
leukemia the leukemic cells do not affect the normal blood cells
as profoundly. Life expectancy is 3-20 years with proper treatments.
Some symptoms are shortness of breath, weight loss, infections,
and abnormal blood count.
3. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia is
an acquired disease caused by an alteration to the DNA sequence
of a single cell of the bone marrow. The result is the uncontrolled
overgrowth of granulocytes. This is a rapidly progressing disease
and life expectancy is short.
Its symptoms are loss of well-being, shortness of breath, bleeding,
red spots under the skin, infections, mild fever, swollen gums,
sores, and bone pain.
4. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
is one of the acquired diseases that is caused by an alteration
to the DNA sequence of a single cell in the bone marrow. This
disease progresses slowly and permits the growth of normal cells.
Life expectancy is 3-20 years with proper treatments.
Its symptoms are as follow: enlarged lymph glands, blood clotting
problem, shortness of breath, weight loss, abnormal blood count,
and infections.
Are
there any related diseases?
In
fact, there are related diseases that often mimic the symptoms
of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia,
the affected cell is a B lymphocyte. However, sometimes in these
related diseases, the cells that are leukemic could also be
T lymphocytes or a natural killer (NK) cells. Therefore, the
leukemic transformation of the three major types of white blood
cells causes diseases similar to chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
These are Myeloma,
Hairy cell Leukemia, and Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS).
Myeloma alters the development
of the B lymphocyte into a form of plasma cell. Myeloma cells
will divide rapidly to form a tumor in the marrow.
Symptoms
include bone pain, fatigue, pale complexion, and repeated
infections.
Hairy cell Leukemia is a subset
of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The disease received its name
due to the thin projections from the surface of the Leukemia
lymphocytes when examined under a microscope. Hairy cells accumulate
and inhibit the production of normal blood cells in the marrow.
Symptoms
include enlarged spleen, decrease production of normal blood
cells, unexplained weight loss, loss of sense of well-being,
increase chance of infection development, and low concentration
of blood platelets.
Myelodysplastic
Syndromes (MDS)-occurs
when blood cells are unable to mature. As a result, the number
of immature blood cells (blasts) increases. The blasts prevent
the ongoing production of normal RBCs, WBCs, and platelets.
In addition, there are five types of MDS:
1.
refractory anemia (RA) occurs when RBCs cannot take up the
iron from hemogloblin.
2. refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RAS) occurs
when the unprocessed iron forms a ring inside the RBCs.
3. refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) occurs when
the number of blasts increases to over 35%.
4. refractory anemia with excess blasts transformation (RAEB-t)
occurs when the excessive blasts transform the disease into
acute myelogenous leukemia.
5. chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is an increase
in production of the monocyte.
General symptoms of MDS include fatigue, shortness of breath,
enlarged spleen and lymph glands, bruising, and abnormal
bleeding.
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