Childhood Leukemia

Leukemia Leukemia is a disease of the blood When leukemia begins Who gets leukemia Diagnosing leukemia Best treatments for leukemia Types of leukemia

When leukemia begins

When abnormal blasts appear in the bone marrow, they multiply rapidly and lose their ability to grow up into normal white cells. They begin to crowd out the normal cells that usually develop there. After accumulating in the bone marrow, leukemic cells spill over into the blood. Leukemic cells may also cross the blood-brain barrier and invade the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

When leukemic blasts begin to fill the marrow, production of healthy red cells, plate¬lets, and white cells cannot be maintained. As the number of normal cells decreases, symptoms appear. Low red cell counts cause fatigue and pale skin. Low platelet counts may result in bruising and bleeding problems. If mature neutrophils and lym¬phocytes are crowded out by the blasts, the child will have little or no defense against infections.