Q. What is Leukaemia?
A. Leukaemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. Just as there are many different types of white blood cell, so there are many different types of leukaemia. There are two main types: lymphocytic leukaemia (arising from a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte) and myeloid leukaemia (arising from an immature type of white blood cell called a myeloid stem cell).
Q. What do chronic and acute mean?
A. Leukaemias are also divided into the slower (called chronic) and faster growing (called acute). There are chronic and acute forms of both the lymphocytic and myeloid leukaemias. Chronic leukaemia cells tend to accumulate in the blood whereas acute leukaemia cells tend to accumulate in both the blood and bone marrow. All blood cells start their life in the bone marrow.
Q. How common is leukaemia?
A. There were 6,755 cases of leukaemia diagnosed in the UK in 2001, the most recent year for which we have records. One third of these were acute myeloid leukaemia and another third were chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. One tenth were acute lymphocytic leukaemia and another tenth were chronic myeloid leukaemia. The rest were other, rarer types of leukaemia.
Q. Isn't leukaemia a children's cancer?
A. About half of all cases of acute lymphocytic leukaemia are in children under 10 years old, with another quarter of cases occurring in adolescents. However, the other main types of leukaemia normally occurr in people over 50. There are 500 cases of leukaemia in the UK each year amongst children, but 3,500 cases in people over 60.
Q. Who is at risk of leukaemia?
A. High levels of exposure to radiation are known to increase the risk of leukaemia, but the levels of exposure for the public, including people in the nuclear industry, radiologists, and people living near Sellafield, are so low that researchers cannot find any reliable evidence of increased risk for them. Smoking increases the risk of myeloid leukaemia. Exposure to benzene (an industrial chemical) has also been linked to a risk of these leukaemias. The chemotherapy and radiotherapy used to treat some other cancers does cause a slight increase in the risk of getting acute myeloid leukaemia, although this is low enough to justify the use of these therapies.
Q. Doesn't living under power lines increase the risk?
A. There is no reliable evidence that living near power lines or electricity generators is linked to an increased risk of leukaemia. Some research has found a link between people working in power generating facilities and a higher risk of leukaemia, but other studies have not.
Q. Are there other diseases that lead on to leukaemia?
A. There are several blood diseases, such as myelodysplasia, which have a significant risk of developing into leukaemia. In addition, children with Down's Syndrome are 10 to 20 times more likely to get leukaemia.
Q. Does leukaemia run in families?
A. An increased risk of leukaemia can run in families. If one person in the family has leukaemia, the other members have three times the normal risk of getting the same type of leukaemia.
Q. What are the symptoms of leukaemia?
A. The main symptoms of leukaemia are anaemia, frequent bruising, infections and abnormal bleeding.
Q. How is leukaemia diagnosed?
A. Chronic leukaemias are usually diagnosed by taking a blood sample and examining the cells under a microscope. However, for lymphocytic leukaemias, it is necessary to take a bone marrow sample for an accurate diagnosis.
Q. How is leukaemia treated?
A. For all types of leukaemia, chemotherapy is the main type of treatment, usually combined with a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. High doses of the drugs are used which kill not only the leukaemia cells but also the patients bone marrow cells. This would normally prevent the patient from making new blood cells and soon prove fatal, but the bone marrow or stem cell transplant restores the bone marrow. Various treatments have been tried for chronic myeloid leukaemia, including the use of interferon.
Q. How effective are the treatments?
A. Improved treatments for children with leukaemia now mean that nearly nine out of ten of them can be cured. However, the cure rates for adults with leukaemia are not as good. For chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, about half of the patients die within five years of being diagnosed. For chronic myeloid leukaemia, about one third survive for five years. For acute myeloid leukaemia, only one in ten patients survives for five years. Amongst the few adults diagnosed with acute lumphocytic leukaemia, the outcome depends on their age. About one third of the patients aged under 40 will survive for five years, but this goes down to about one patient in twenty for those aged over 70.
A. Leukaemia is a cancer of the white blood cells. Just as there are many different types of white blood cell, so there are many different types of leukaemia. There are two main types: lymphocytic leukaemia (arising from a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte) and myeloid leukaemia (arising from an immature type of white blood cell called a myeloid stem cell).
Q. What do chronic and acute mean?
A. Leukaemias are also divided into the slower (called chronic) and faster growing (called acute). There are chronic and acute forms of both the lymphocytic and myeloid leukaemias. Chronic leukaemia cells tend to accumulate in the blood whereas acute leukaemia cells tend to accumulate in both the blood and bone marrow. All blood cells start their life in the bone marrow.
Q. How common is leukaemia?
A. There were 6,755 cases of leukaemia diagnosed in the UK in 2001, the most recent year for which we have records. One third of these were acute myeloid leukaemia and another third were chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. One tenth were acute lymphocytic leukaemia and another tenth were chronic myeloid leukaemia. The rest were other, rarer types of leukaemia.
Q. Isn't leukaemia a children's cancer?
A. About half of all cases of acute lymphocytic leukaemia are in children under 10 years old, with another quarter of cases occurring in adolescents. However, the other main types of leukaemia normally occurr in people over 50. There are 500 cases of leukaemia in the UK each year amongst children, but 3,500 cases in people over 60.
Q. Who is at risk of leukaemia?
A. High levels of exposure to radiation are known to increase the risk of leukaemia, but the levels of exposure for the public, including people in the nuclear industry, radiologists, and people living near Sellafield, are so low that researchers cannot find any reliable evidence of increased risk for them. Smoking increases the risk of myeloid leukaemia. Exposure to benzene (an industrial chemical) has also been linked to a risk of these leukaemias. The chemotherapy and radiotherapy used to treat some other cancers does cause a slight increase in the risk of getting acute myeloid leukaemia, although this is low enough to justify the use of these therapies.
Q. Doesn't living under power lines increase the risk?
A. There is no reliable evidence that living near power lines or electricity generators is linked to an increased risk of leukaemia. Some research has found a link between people working in power generating facilities and a higher risk of leukaemia, but other studies have not.
Q. Are there other diseases that lead on to leukaemia?
A. There are several blood diseases, such as myelodysplasia, which have a significant risk of developing into leukaemia. In addition, children with Down's Syndrome are 10 to 20 times more likely to get leukaemia.
Q. Does leukaemia run in families?
A. An increased risk of leukaemia can run in families. If one person in the family has leukaemia, the other members have three times the normal risk of getting the same type of leukaemia.
Q. What are the symptoms of leukaemia?
A. The main symptoms of leukaemia are anaemia, frequent bruising, infections and abnormal bleeding.
Q. How is leukaemia diagnosed?
A. Chronic leukaemias are usually diagnosed by taking a blood sample and examining the cells under a microscope. However, for lymphocytic leukaemias, it is necessary to take a bone marrow sample for an accurate diagnosis.
Q. How is leukaemia treated?
A. For all types of leukaemia, chemotherapy is the main type of treatment, usually combined with a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. High doses of the drugs are used which kill not only the leukaemia cells but also the patients bone marrow cells. This would normally prevent the patient from making new blood cells and soon prove fatal, but the bone marrow or stem cell transplant restores the bone marrow. Various treatments have been tried for chronic myeloid leukaemia, including the use of interferon.
Q. How effective are the treatments?
A. Improved treatments for children with leukaemia now mean that nearly nine out of ten of them can be cured. However, the cure rates for adults with leukaemia are not as good. For chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, about half of the patients die within five years of being diagnosed. For chronic myeloid leukaemia, about one third survive for five years. For acute myeloid leukaemia, only one in ten patients survives for five years. Amongst the few adults diagnosed with acute lumphocytic leukaemia, the outcome depends on their age. About one third of the patients aged under 40 will survive for five years, but this goes down to about one patient in twenty for those aged over 70.
