Acute Leukemia
The different types of acute leukemia (AL) so closely resemble each other clinically that they are usually grouped under one head. The two major groups into which AL can be divided into acute granulocytic anemia (AGL) and acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL). The AGL group includes the acute myeloblastic, the acute promyelocitic, the acute myelomonocytic form and erythromyelosis.
Acute Leukemia
In some cases of acute leukemia, the type of white blood cell is so undifferentiated that it is difficult, if not impossible, to assign a class to it. In these cases, if the patient is below 12 years of age, the type assigned is the lymphocytic group whereas patients above the age of 12 were classified into the granulocytic group.
There is, however, a school of thought which advocates classifying all acute leukemia cases that have undifferentiated cells as ALL since their contention is that AGL can be defined more precisely than ALL. Monocytic leukemia was recognized in two forms till date but research supports the view that the monocytic form develops from the granulocytic line and hence a more correct description would be myelomonocytic leukemia.
It is estimated that about 13,000 Americans are likely to be diagnosed with acute leukemia of the myelogenous (AML) variety in 2007.
It is estimated that about 13,000 American will be diagnosed with acute mylogenous leukemia (AML) in 2007 and the probability of developing AML rises with age though about 20% of the children with leukemia has the AML form. With the significant advances in medical research over the last 30 or so years, the percentage of patients with acute leukemia who are fully cured or go into remission or stay in remission for years has grown many-fold.
Acute leukemia has been suspected to have many causes, the most significant being exposure to ionizing radiation, prolonged or concentrated exposure to benzene, tobacco
or tobacco smoke and chemotherapy
The incidence of acute leukemia is almost the same in all racial and ethnic groups and lies between 2 and 3 per 100,000 in people between the age of 15 and 39. ALL is the most common form of acute leukemia in childhood and reaches a peak between the ages of 2 and 5 years after which it reduces to a lower value where it stays almost constant till old age. AGL, on the other hand, has very low incidence values in childhood but rises to a small peak in teenage and then it stays at a higher constant value for rest of the life. The incidence of ALL in males stands at 1.4:1.0 while in AGL, it is still higher towads males but the ratio is smaller.
The onset of acute leukemia may be gradual or abrupt. In case the onset is insiduous, the symptoms resemble those of general ill-health or, even, anemia. Children with chronic leukemia are lackadaisical and paler than their healthy counterparts while adults exhibit lethargy and shortness of breath (dyspnea). Patients with acute leukemia are often diagnosed with an upper respiratory tract infection or influenza. The alarm bells start ringing because recovery does not take place as expected and further investigations will reveal the presence of acute leukemia.