Cancer of a particular line of stem cell in the bone marrow - causes unregulated production of certain types of blood cells. Classified based on:

• How rapidly they progress - acute or chronic
• Cell line affected - Myeloid or Lymphoid

To make 4 main types of leukemia.

Acute Lymphoid leukaemia

Chronic Lymphoid leukaemia

Chronic myeloid leukaemia

Acute myeloid leukemia

Pathophysiology

Leukemia is a form of cancer of the cells of the bone marrow - a genetic mutation in one of the precursor cells in the bone marrow leads to excessive proliferation of a single type of abnormal white blood cells

The excessive production of a single type of cell can lead to suppression of the other cell lines causing underproduction of other cell types = Pancytopenia (anaemia, leukopaenia, thrombocytopaenia)

Epidemiology

• Relatively uncommon - incidence of 10/100,000 per year
• B-CLL is the most common leukemia in adults in the western world

ALL CeLLmates have CoMmon AMbitions

• Under 5 and over 45 – acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)
• Over 55 – chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CeLLmates)
• Over 65 – chronic myeloid leukaemia (CoMmon)