There are 4 different main types of the cancer. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood, more specifically of two of the white blood cell types in the blood.

Lymphocytic leukemia affects the lymphocyte white blood cells. Myelocytic leukemia affects myeloid white blood cells of which there are several different types.

Both cancers are classified as either acute or chronic depending on their speed of progression.

Symptoms generally develop relatively slowly with common early symptoms being fatigue, weakness and pale skin (due to anemia).

Leukemia signs:

• excessive fever
• sweating
• weakness
• fatigue
• pale color skin
• anemia
• increased bruising
• increased bleeding
• headaches
• vomiting
• irritability
• bone pain
• joint pain
• abdominal bloating
• abdominal pain
• enlarged lymph nodes
• loss of appetite
• weight loss
• shortness of breath

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children but can also occur at any age. Acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) is more common in adults but can also occur at any age.

The chronic types of leukemia, chronic leukocytic leukemia (CLL) and chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML), occur most frequently in older adults and rarely is found in young children.

Diagnosis of the leukemia types is typically performed by simple blood testing and bone marrow biopsy.

Leukemias are treatable and increasingly curable depending on the type and stage. However, greater focus must sometimes be given to simply improving the remaining quality of life of the individual rather than moderately prolonging life. Pain care and symptom alleviation measures are key.

Leukemia treatment is typically chemotherapy which destroys cancerous leukemia cells and allows normal function of the bone marrow to resume.  With advances in medicine today there are advanced therapies.  In addition to radiation and chemotherapy treatments include:

• Kinase inhibitors. For most people with CML, the drug imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) is the first line of therapy. Imatinib mesylate is a type of cancer drug called a kinase inhibitor. It was specifically developed to inhibit the BCR-ABL protein, and it has proved effective in treating the early stages of chronic myelogenous leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration has approved two other kinase inhibitors, dasatinib (Sprycel) and nilotinib (Tasigna), which may help people who can’t take or who’ve become resistant to imatinib.
• Other drug therapy. Arsenic trioxide and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) are anti-cancer drugs that doctors can use alone — or in combination with chemotherapy — to treat a certain subtype of AML called promyelocytic leukemia. These drugs cause leukemia cells with a specific gene mutation to mature and die.
• Bone marrow transplant. This process replaces your leukemic bone marrow with leukemia-free marrow. In this treatment, you receive high doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy, which destroys your leukemia-producing bone marrow. This marrow is then replaced by bone marrow from a compatible donor. In some cases, you may also be able to use your own bone marrow for transplant (autologous transplant). This is possible if you go into remission and then save healthy bone marrow for a future transplant, in case the leukemia returns.
• Stem cell transplant. Stem cell transplant is similar to bone marrow transplant except the cells are collected from stem cells that circulate in the bloodstream (peripheral blood). The cells used for transplant can be your own healthy cells (autologous transplant), or they can be collected from a compatible donor (allogeneic transplant). Doctors use this procedure more frequently than bone marrow transplant because of shortened recovery times and possible decreased risk of infection.
• Clinical trials. Some people with leukemia choose to enroll in clinical trials to try out experimental treatments or new combinations of known therapies.