Leukemia Types

A Look Into the Different Types of Leukemia

Leukemia is a disease that affects blood forming cells. It begins in the bone marrow and is characterized by an abundance of white blood cells in the body.

Leukemia can be divided in to 4 types. It is first classified as acute or chronic.

Chronic Leukemias

In chronic leukemia, the leukemia cells come from mature, abnormal cells. The cells thrive for too long and accumulate.The cells grow slowly.

Acute Leukemias

Acute leukemia,on the other hand, develop from early cells, called "blasts". Blasts are young cells, that divide frequently. In acute leukemia cells, they don't stop dividing like their normal counterparts do.

The remain two types refer to the type of cells in which the leukemia started from.

Myelogenous Leukemia
Myelogenous leukemia develops from myeloid cells. The disease can either be chronic or acute, referred as chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML), or acute myelogenous leukemia(ALL).

Lymphocytic Leukemia

Lymphocytic leukemia develops from cells called lymphoblasts or lymphocytes in the blood marrow. The disease can be acute or chronic, referred as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), or acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).