{"id":3296,"date":"2024-04-22T16:11:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T10:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.edhacare.com\/blogs\/?p=3296"},"modified":"2024-05-08T11:50:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T06:20:24","slug":"chemotherapy-for-acute-lymphocytic-leukemia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edhacare.com\/blogs\/chemotherapy-for-acute-lymphocytic-leukemia\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemotherapy for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is also called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. \u201cAcute\u201d means that the leukemia can progress quickly and, if not treated, can be fatal within a few months. “Lymphocytic” means it develops from early (immature) forms of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell.<\/span><\/p>\n

ALL starts in the bone marrow (the soft inner part of certain bones, where new blood cells are made). Most often, the leukemia cells invade the blood fairly quickly. They can also sometimes spread to other parts of the body, including the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and testicles (in males). Some cancers can also start in these organs and then spread to the bone marrow, but these cancers are not leukemia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other types of cancer that start in lymphocytes are known as lymphomas (either non-Hodgkin lymphoma or Hodgkin lymphoma). While leukemias like ALL mainly affect the bone marrow and the blood, lymphomas mainly affect the lymph nodes or other organs (but may also involve the bone marrow). Sometimes it can be hard to tell if a cancer of lymphocytes is a leukemia or a lymphoma. Usually, if at least 20% of the bone marrow is made up of cancerous lymphocytes (called lymphoblasts, or just blasts), the disease is considered leukemia.<\/span><\/p>\n

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