what kind of cancer is leukemia

Leukemia is a blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow, where blood cells are made.

What kind of cancer is leukemia?

Leukemia is a type of hematologic (blood) cancer, sometimes called “blood cancer,” that mainly affects white blood cells and their immature precursors in the bone marrow. Instead of forming a solid tumor like breast or lung cancer, leukemia causes abnormal blood cells to build up in the blood and bone marrow and crowd out healthy cells.

Doctors classify leukemia in two main ways: how fast it grows (acute vs. chronic) and which cell line it comes from (lymphocytic vs. myeloid). Putting those together, the four major types are:

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
• Acute myeloid (or myelogenous) leukemia (AML)
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)

Acute vs. chronic (how fast it behaves)

• Acute leukemias grow quickly, involve very immature cells (blasts), and usually need treatment right away.

• Chronic leukemias grow more slowly, often with more mature-looking cells, and sometimes are watched for a period before treatment starts.

Lymphocytic vs. myeloid (which cells)

• Lymphocytic (or lymphoblastic) leukemias start in marrow cells that normally become lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system.

• Myeloid (or myelogenous) leukemias start in marrow cells that would normally develop into red blood cells, some white blood cells, and platelets.

Here’s a quick view in HTML table form, as you asked:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Type of leukemia</th>
      <th>Speed</th>
      <th>Main cell line</th>
      <th>Very simple description</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)</td>
      <td>Acute (fast-growing)</td>
      <td>Lymphocytic (lymphocytes)</td>
      <td>Fast blood cancer of immature lymphocytes, common in children but can affect adults. [web:1][web:3][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)</td>
      <td>Acute (fast-growing)</td>
      <td>Myeloid</td>
      <td>Fast blood cancer of early myeloid cells, most common acute leukemia in adults. [web:1][web:3][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)</td>
      <td>Chronic (slow-growing)</td>
      <td>Lymphocytic</td>
      <td>Slow leukemia of more mature lymphocytes, common in older adults. [web:1][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)</td>
      <td>Chronic (often slow at first)</td>
      <td>Myeloid</td>
      <td>Leukemia of myeloid cells that usually starts slowly and can speed up over time. [web:1][web:3][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

How it’s different from “solid” cancers

• Leukemia is not “bone cancer” in the sense of a solid tumor of the bone; it is cancer of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow.

• Because the abnormal cells circulate in the blood, symptoms often include fatigue, frequent infections, easy bruising or bleeding, and sometimes bone pain, rather than a lump or mass.

If this is personal for you

If you or someone close to you is facing a possible leukemia diagnosis, it is very normal to feel scared and overwhelmed; many patients online describe exactly that mix of fear and uncertainty. A good next step is to ask the doctor which specific type of leukemia it is (for example, “ALL” or “CML”) because treatment, outlook, and questions to ask all depend heavily on that exact type.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.