Leukemia Leukemia Basics

What is Leukemia?

Over 35,000 people will be diagnosed with some form of leukemia this year with CLL affecting 25 percent of all patients over the age of 50, making it the most common form of this disease.

But what is leukemia, and are you at risk? Dr. Neil Shah, assistant professor of the division of hematology and oncology and the University of California, San Francisco and Dr. Brian Druker, director of the leukemia center at Oregon Health Sciences University, answer some common questions about this disease.

What is leukemia?
Leukemia is defined as the overproduction of white blood cells. It's a blood disorder caused by an abnormality in the cells in the bone marrow. These cells do not develop normally, so they accumulate in an immature stage, and they don't serve any useful function.

What are the types of leukemia?
The types of leukemia are categorized by how quickly the disease develops. A chronic form of leukemia develops slowly. Acute leukemia, on the other hand, quickly worsens and is a more aggressive form of the disease. But leukemia is also grouped by the types of white blood cells that are affected. The disease can arise in the myeloid cells or the lymphoid cells. So, there are four categories of leukemia: chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

How common is each type of leukemia?
Each form of leukemia occurs at different rates in the population. CLL, the most common form, strikes about 10,000 people a year, while AML will be diagnosed in 8,000 people a year. Less common is CML, which will affect about 5,000 people a year, and ALL will be diagnosed in about 4,000 people this year.

However, leukemia can also affect children. The most common form of leukemia in children is ALL, which will be diagnosed in about 2,000 children this year.

Who is most at risk for developing leukemia?
For most cases of leukemia, the average age of onset is between the ages of 50 to 60. In children, leukemia is seen more often in younger children, generally between the ages of 2 and 4.

What causes leukemia?
The cause of leukemia is not completely understood, but we know that there are some risk factors for the development of leukemia, such as exposure to certain chemicals, such as chemotherapy or radiation. The vast majority of patients, however, don't have any clearly identifiable risk factor.

What are the symptoms of leukemia?
The symptoms of chronic leukemia can be pretty nonspecific: low grade fevers, fatigue, night sweats, occasionally some abdominal discomfort from an enlarged spleen. Occasionally, there is some loss of appetite or decreased weight. Patients oftentimes will have symptoms for three to six months of just some mild fatigue, maybe a low-grade fever, occasionally some night sweats.

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