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Leukaemia and other allied blood disorders
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (all)
This mainly affects children, with a peak age of onset at four years; about eighty-five per cent of childhood leukaemia is of this type. Children may complain of bone or joint pains, may be anaemic (pale and easily tired), may have repeated, persistent infections and may have excessive bruising or bleeding problems or they may be non-specifically unwell. The lymph glands (nodes) in the neck, armpits and groins may be enlarged. The disease may also cause neurological problems, such as headaches, difficulties with vision because of meningeal disease, or it may cause testicular enlargement. Diagnosis is by full blood count followed by bone marrow examination, which shows accumulation of primitive cells (lymphoblasts), and reduction in normal blood forming cells. Treatment is by chemotherapy. The cure rate in children is high (about seventy-five to eighty per cent). A minority of children may require a stem cell transplant. From 2003 to 2009 a large scale clinical study, UKALL 2003, is being carried out in the UK; some children are not eligible for this study, but it is likely that most parents will be asked to consider enrolling their child in this trial. Adults receive similar, but more intensive, treatment than children but the outlook is less good. Stem cell transplantation is recommended more frequently, even in first remission. Teenagers have been found to fare better when they are given childhood type treatment rather than that given to adults.
Background
| Acute myeloid leukaemia (aml) 
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