Leukemia is a cancer of the organs that make blood: the bone marrow and the lymph system. The overabundance of white blood cells crowd the bone marrow and prevent it from producing enough red, white blood cells and clotting platelets. The body then loses its ability to fight infection, as well as increased possibility of anemia, easy bruising and bone pain. Leukemia may be acute which involves immature cells and half chronic with cells more advanced in development and tends to progress slowly. Leukemia represents approximately 5% of cancers and is generally associated with an older population. However, until recently childhood leukemia was the most common cancer of children.
Lymphoma is a general term for cancers that develop in the lymphatic system affecting the body's immune system. There are two basic kinds of lymphoma, Hodgkin's which is a unique kind of lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin's. The distinction between leukemia and lymphomas is somewhat arbitrary. If bone marrow involvement and circulating cells predominate or if they constitute the first recognized manifestation of the disease, the process is termed leukemia. Lymphomas originate in lymphoid tissues and rarely go into the blood stream.
No comments:
Post a Comment