What is Acute Leukemia?

Acute leukemia is treacherous because the symptoms are nonspecific and the disease progresses rapidly. What you should know.

What is called Acute Leukemia?

There are different types of blood cells in the blood. Among them, among others, the red blood cells (erythrocytes), the white blood cells (leukocytes) and the platelets (thrombocytes). In leukemia, the blood cells or their development are disturbed, one speaks of blood cancer. A distinction is made between acute and chronic leukemia. Acute leukemia is progressing very fast and needs immediate attention.

For blood cells, there are two different lines: the myeloid cells and the lymphatic cells. Therefore, two different types of acute leukemia are distinguished: acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The former is more common in children and young adults. Acute myeloid leukemia, on the other hand, is the most common form of adult acute leukemia.

Possible Symptoms of Acute Leukemia

• ·         Paleness and shortness of breath due to anemia
• ·         fever
• ·         fatigue
• ·         fatigue
• ·         A "sickness feeling"
• ·         High susceptibility to infections
• ·         Small bleeding on skin and mucous membranes, as well as nose and gum, bleeding
• ·         dizziness
• ·         night sweats

Important: These symptoms are nonspecific. That is, they are not only due to acute leukemia but may also point to other diseases. In addition, symptoms may be different for each patient. Some symptoms may not occur at all. This makes the early detection of acute leukemia particularly difficult. People who suffer from acute leukemia experience the result only after certain tests. These include, for example, hematopoietic examinations or a bone marrow examination.

What Treatments are Available for Acute Leukemia?

In any case, you should be in the treatment of specialists in acute leukemia. There are some hospitals that employ special specialists in the field of leukemia. Find out about possible treatment locations.

In acute leukemia, a rapid onset of treatment is necessary to successfully treat the disease at all. If no therapy, the disease leads to death. It is usually started immediately with chemotherapy. It may also be necessary to have a stem cell transplant. The ALL also carries out radiotherapy.

In the USA, gene therapy has been approved in 2017, which gives new hope in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Tests had shown that in 52 of the 63 test patients, the cancer cells in the blood disappeared.