Chronic Leukemia Treatment Information

/Home/Types of Leukemia/Chronic Leukemia

Chronic Leukemia Treatment Information
Canceranswers.com

What is Chronic Leukemia?

Leukemia is a cancer of thewhite blood cells . It is divided into two general types, Acute andChronic. This is based upon their untreated behavior-- with no treatment acute leukemia will kill within months, while the patient with chronic leukemia may live for many years. Both acute and chronic leukemias are further subclassified with regard to the particular white cell type they arose from. Normally, white blood cells act as agents of the body's immune system, recognizing and destroying foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. White blood cells are larger than the red blood cells (which carry oxygen) and are easy to see under the microscope. Too few white blood cells will lead to massive infection, while too few red blood cells leads to the pallor and fatigue of anemia. Platelets are the third type of blood element (they are not whole cells) which allow clotting to occur. Too few platelets leads to bruising and internal bleeding.

Chronic leukemia was first recognized in 1845 as a massive accumulation of white blood cells. There are normally 3,000 to 10,000 white blood cells per milliliter of whole blood, but with chronic leukemia that number may skyrocket to above 100,000. Ironically, this increased number of white blood cells will actually lead to more infections, since these abnormal cells are not effective against fighting germs, and stymie production of normal cells. Thus, chronic leukemia is also usually accompanied by a decrease in red blood cells and platelets, leading to anemia and bruising. By contrast, the acute leukemias often have normal or reduced white blood cells. Besides for acute and chronic, another major division classifying leukemias is between the lymphoctytic and the myelogenous varieties. The lympho- cytic variety comes from the lymphocytes, which is a common white blood cell active in identifying and marking germs to be killed. In adults, about 1/3 of the total white blood cells are lymphocytes. The myelogenous variety comes from the other white blood cells besides lymphocytes, represents at least 7 different subtypes, and is often just called"non-lymphocytic" leukemia.

The major divisions of acute and chronic, and lymphocytic and myelogenous, are combined in the following four labels into which leukemias are grouped:

ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia)
AML (Acute Myelocytic Leukemia)
CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia)
CML (Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia)

Like all cancers, leukemia starts from a single abnormal cell, in this case a white blood cell. Normally, the division of human cells in under very tight control throughout life. The control is by the genes, which are packets of information within each cell. For any number a reasons, a cell's genes may be altered and tell the cell to start dividing out of control. For most of the cell types that form the human body, this will lead to a mass of abnormal cells called a tumor. A tumor just means a swelling. A tumor which grows only in it's local area, and doesnot spread, is called "benign" and isn't cancer.

In contrast, a tumor which can spread to any area of the body is called "malignant" and is cancer. Thus, cancer is proved by it's ability to spread, or "metastasize". Since the blood is unique in traveling all through the body to nourish it, the same definitions of "spread" cannot be used for blood cancers (i.e. leukemia) as for "solid tumors" (i.e. lung cancer). The basic way of distinguishing the many "benign" blood conditions from "malignant" ones is by their behavior. Generally, benign conditions are not fatal. However, malignant blood diseases will naturally progress to kill the patient, either quickly (acute leukemia) or slowly (chronic leukemia). Proper treatment may interfere with this natural progression to death, and possibly even cure the patient. Since the behavior and effective treatment for acute and chronic leukemias is different, they are discussed in separate transcripts. Much recent progress have been made in understanding leukemias, and the relevant points are now summarized in sections.

How Common is Leukemia?
Each year in the United States there are 27,600 new cases of leukemia, with males getting the disease slightly more often than females. Childhood cases, which
are predominantly of the acute type, are about 7000 cases, so the remaining 20,000
cases occur in adults. The adult cases are about equally split between the lymphocy-
tic (ALL and CLL) types and the myelogenous types (AML and CML). For Chronic leukemias, CLL is overall the most common, making up 9,000 cases per year. Men are affected by this type of leukemia twice as often as women, and the average patient is 65 years old. Ninety percent of CLL patients are over 50 years old. CLL is not seen in children. On the other hand, CML makes up about 5000 cases per year, is most
common in 30 to 40 year olds, and is occasionally seen in children. Overall, numbers of leukemia cases have been increasing over the past 3 decades, although survival has been increasing due to more effective treatments.

What Causes Chronic Leukemia?
As with every cancer, the exact reason why one person gets chronic leukemia and
another does not is unknown . However, several factors have been noted to increase
the risk for getting this disease.

All leukemia comes from blood cells, which normally function to provide the body's cells with oxygen (red blood cells), protect them from invading germs (white blood cells), and promote blood clotting after an injury (platelets). This system usually functions beautifully, and it's proper workings are crucial to human life. These blood cells division is normally under tight control, and when a cell starts dividing out of control, it becomes "cancerous."

Cancer starts in just one cell! Chronic leukemias are cancers of blood cells, and are one of two basic types. Firstly, "Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia" (CLL) which starts in a popular type of white blood cell ("lymphocyte"), and the second is ÒChronic Non-Lymphocytic LeukemiaÓ (CNLL) which includes cancers arising from every other type of blood cell besides the lymphocyte. "Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia" (CML) is the most common type in this second category.

It is critical to get prompt diagnosis and proper treatment for chronic leukemia; this can literally make the difference between life and death. Understanding your options will give you the peace-of-mind of knowing you have done everything possible to ensure a successful outcome for yourself or a loved one.

If you're interested in learning more about cancer and leukemia treatment, a nursing education might be a good career choice. You may be able to get education grants from hospitals to continue your medical education, as many hospitals would love nurses to continue their college education.

CancerAnswers's material explains, in plain English, the definition, types, risk factors, frequency, symptoms, evaluations, historical and latest effective treatments for chronic leukemia. We describe chemotherapy, radiation, new immune therapies and bone marrow transplantation, along with their side-effects and results. While we don't promise a cure, tell you everything you must know to help you make the right choices today for dealing with a chronic leukemia problem.

This is just an excerpt of CancerAnswers's report on Chronic Leukemia. Much more, including latest treatment, can be sent to you by mail when you order the complete Chronic Leukemia transcript at a nominal cost. Thank you for using CancerAnswers as your information resource.

copyright©CancerAnswers, 2007