Call us anytime. This page was updated on October 19, Risk factors for leukemia. What causes leukemia? Known risk factors for leukemia include: General Gender : Men are more likely than woman to develop leukemia.
Lifestyle Smoking : Although smoking may not be a direct cause of leukemia, smoking cigarettes does increase the risk of developing AML. Other conditions Radiation : Exposure to high-energy radiation e.
Next topic: What are the symptoms of leukemia? Exposure to benzene: This is a solvent that manufacturers use in some cleaning chemicals and hair dyes. Some genetic conditions: Children with Down syndrome have a third copy of chromosome Another genetic condition with links to leukemia is Li-Fraumeni syndrome.
This causes a change to the TP53 gene. Family history: Having siblings with leukemia can lead to a low but significant risk of leukemia. If a person has an identical twin with leukemia, they have a 1 in 5 chance of having the cancer themselves. Inherited problems with the immune system: Certain inherited immune conditions increase the risk of both severe infections and leukemia.
These include:. Immune suppression: Childhood leukemia may develop due to the deliberate suppression of the immune system. This might occur following an organ transplant as a child takes medications to prevent their body from rejecting the organ.
In acute leukemia, developing cells multiply quickly and collect in the marrow and blood. They exit the bone marrow too early and are not functional. Chronic leukemia progresses more slowly. It allows for the production of more mature, useful cells. Lymphocytic leukemia occurs if cancerous changes affect the type of bone marrow that makes lymphocytes. A lymphocyte is a white blood cell that plays a role in the immune system.
Myelogenous leukemia happens when the changes affect bone marrow cells that produce blood cells, rather than the blood cells themselves. Children under 5 years old are at the highest risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia ALL. However, It can also affect adults, typically over the age of 50 years.
Out of every five deaths from ALL, four occur in adults. Read more about ALL. This is most common among adults over 55 years, but younger adults can also develop it. It is more common in men than in women and rarely affects children. Learn more about CLL here. Acute myelogenous leukemia AML is more common in adults than in children, but overall, it is a rare cancer.
It develops more often in men than in women. It develops quickly, and symptoms include fever , difficulty breathing, and pain in the joints. Environmental factors can trigger this type. Here, learn more about AML. Chronic myelogenous leukemia CML mostly develops in adults. Please call for support from a Moffitt representative.
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An online resource for referring physicians and their staff. Our patient services specialists can assist you with scheduling an appointment, questions about medical records, insurance, billing and more. A diagnosis is typically confirmed using a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration.
There are a number of different tests that can be used to diagnose leukemia. Looking at your blood under a microscope can also determine if the cells have an abnormal appearance.
Tissue biopsies can be taken from the bone marrow or lymph nodes to look for evidence of leukemia. These small samples can identify the type of leukemia and its growth rate. Biopsies of other organs, such as the liver and spleen, can show if the cancer has spread. Once leukemia is diagnosed, it will be staged. Staging finds out how much the cancer has spread and progressed, and it helps a doctor determine your outlook. AML and ALL are staged based on how cancer cells look under a microscope and the type of cells involved.
The presence of immature white blood cells, or myeloblasts, in the blood and bone marrow is also used to stage AML and CML. A number of other tests can be used to determine the progression of the disease:. The long-term outlook for people who have leukemia depends on the type of cancer they have and their stage at diagnosis.
Some factors, like older age, past history of blood disorders, and chromosome mutations, can negatively affect the outlook. According to the NCI, the number of leukemia deaths has been falling on average 1. The 5-year survival rate or percent of people surviving at least 5 years after receiving a diagnosis was 65 percent from to Work with your medical team to treat leukemia and find out your specific outlook.
Read this article in Spanish. White blood cells, or WBCs, are an important part of your immune system. They help fight infections by attacking bacteria, viruses, and germs. Here's what you need to know about the link between leukemia and anemia. Blood cell disorders impair the formation and function of red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.
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