Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells, It starts in the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside most bones. Bone marrow is where blood cells are made.

1. LEUKEMIA
•Cancer of WBC

2. •WHAT IS LEUKEMIA?
Leukemia is cancer of the
blood cells. It starts in the bone
marrow, the soft tissue inside
most bones. Bone marrow is
where blood cells are made.

3. Platelet WBC
RBC
•When you are healthy, your bone marrow makes:
• White blood cells , which help your body
fight infection.
• Red blood cells , which carry oxygen to all
parts of your body.
• platelets, which help your blood clot.

4.  But When you have leukemia, the bone
marrow starts to make a lot of abnormal white
blood cells, called leukemia cells. They don't
do the work of normal white blood cells, they
grow faster than normal cells, and they don't
stop growing when they should.
 Over time, leukemia cells can crowd out the
normal blood cells. This can lead to serious
problems such as anemia, bleeding, and
infections. Leukemia cells can also spread to
the lymph nodes or other organs and cause
swelling or pain.

5. DEVELOPMENT OF LEUKEMIA IN THE
BLOODSTREAM :
Stage 1- Normal Stage 2- Symptoms Stage 3- Diagnosis
Stage 4- Worsening
Stage 5a- Anemia
Stage 5b- Infection
Legend
White Cell
Red Cell
Platelet
Blast
Germ Sources from Leukemia, by D. Newton and D. Siegel

6. PICTURES OF BLOOD
Normal human blood
White Cell Red Cell
Platelet
Blood with leukemia
BlastsRed Cell
Platelet
White Cell
Sources from Arginine.umdnj.edu
Sources from beyond2000.com

7. ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEUKEMIA?
 In general, leukemia is grouped by how fast it
gets worse and what kind of white blood cell it
affects.
 It may be acute or chronic. Acute leukemia
gets worse very fast and may make you feel
sick right away. Chronic leukemia gets worse
slowly and may not cause symptoms for
years.
 It may be lymphocytic or myelogenous.
Lymphocytic (or lymphoblastic) leukemia
affects white blood cells called lymphocytes.

8. •THE FOUR MAIN TYPES OF LEUKEMIA ARE:
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or
ALL.
Acute myelogenous leukemia, or
AML.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or
CLL.
Chronic myelogenous leukemia,or

9. In adults, chronic lymphocytic
leukemia (CLL) and acute
myelogenous leukemia (AML) are the
most common leukemia. In children,
the most common leukemia isacute
lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
. Childhood leukemias also include
acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
and other myeloid leukemias, such as
chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)
and juvenile myelomonocytic

10. WHAT CAUSES LEUKEMIA?
 You are more likely to get leukemia if you:
 Were exposed to large amounts of radiation.
 Were exposed to certain chemicals at work,
such as benzene.
 Had some types of chemotherapy to treat
another cancer.
 Have Down syndrome or some other genetic
problems.
 Smoke.

11. These things are called risk
factors.
But most people who have these
risk factors don't get leukemia.
And most people who get
leukemia do not have any known
risk factors.

12. HOW IS LEUKEMIA DIAGNOSED?
 To find out if you have leukemia, a doctor will:
 Ask questions about your past health and symptoms.
 Do a physical exam. The doctor will look for swollen
lymph nodes and check to see if your spleen or liver is
enlarged.
 Order blood tests. Leukemia causes a high level of
white blood cells and low levels of other types of blood
cells.
 If your blood tests are not normal, the doctor may want
to do a bone marrow biopsy. This test lets the doctor
look at cells from inside your bone. This can give key
information about what type of leukemia it is so you

13. •WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
 Symptoms may depend on what type of leukemia you
have, but common symptoms include:
 Fever and night sweats.
 Headaches.
 Bruising or bleeding easily.
 Bone or joint pain.
 A swollen or painful belly from an enlarged spleen.
 Swollen lymph nodes in the armpit, neck, or groin.
 Getting a lot of infections.
 Feeling very tired or weak.
 Losing weight and not feeling hungry.

15. SWOLLEN LYMPH
NODES
RED SPOTS ON THE
SKIN
SOME SYMPTOMS :

16. TREATMENT OF LEUKEMIA :
 There are several ways to treat
leukemia : --Chemotherapy
--Stem cell transplant
--Radiation therapy
--Targeted therapy
--Surgery

17. TREATMENT OPTIONS
 The treatment approach differs from patient to
patient, from one leukemia type to another, and
from a leukemia stage or phase to another.
There are a certain number of factors that
influence the treatment approach:
 - The leukemia type
- The patient’s age and symptoms
- Whether or not the leukemia cells are present
in the cerebrospinal fluid
- Features of the leukemia cells
- Whether or not the leukemia was treated

18. CHEMOTHERAPY
Most of the patients that suffer from leukemia
receive chemotherapy and targeted therapy .
Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment
(affects cells throughout the entire body) that
uses drugs either to stop the abnormal
growth and dividing process of the leukemia
cells, or to kill the leukemia cells. This type of
treatment can be administered as a single
drug or in combination with other drugs.

19. HOW WE CAN GIVE THE CHEMOTHERAPY DRUGS?
1) Oral , administration as pills
2) Intravenous , as an injection into the vein
3)Injectable
- into the cerebrospinal fluid.
- into the spinal (the drugs are injected
straight into the lower part of the spinal
column).
The advantage of this last type of treatment
approach is that the drugs travel on a direct
path from the brain and spinal cord to the
leukemia cells.

21. STEM CELL TRANSPLANT
 Sometimes high doses of chemotherapy are used to treat
leukemia that has come back or if there is a high risk that
it may come back. High-dose chemotherapy destroys the
bone marrow cells as well as the leukemia cells, so the
bone marrow will need to be replaced with a transplant of
stem cells. All blood cells develop from stem cells found in
the bone marrow and in the bloodstream.
 Before high-dose chemotherapy is given, stem cells will
be taken from you or from a donor whose bone marrow is
a close match to your own. Soon after the chemotherapy
treatment, the stem cells are put back into your blood.
Within a few weeks, the new stem cells will start to make
blood cells.

22.  A stem cell transplant is a very complex
procedure. For this reason, stem cell transplants
are done in specialized transplant centers or
hospitals by a team of highly trained healthcare
professionals. Side effects can be very serious
and may even be life-threatening. You will be
watched very closely after a stem cell transplant
and carefully followed up for a period of time
after leaving the hospital. It may take several
months to fully recover after a stem cell
transplant.

23. RADIATION THERAPY :
 In external beam radiation therapy, a large machine is
used to carefully aim a beam of radiation. The
radiation damages the cells in the path of the beam –
normal cells as well as cancer cells. Radiation side
effects will be different depending on what part of the
body receives the radiation. You may feel more tired
than usual, have some diarrhea, or notice changes to
the skin (it may be red or tender) where the treatment
was given.
 Radiation may be used for some types of leukemia to
treat the disease or prevent it from spreading. If you
need a stem cell transplant, you may also be given
radiation to the whole body to destroy the bone

25. TARGETED THERAPY :
 Targeted therapies use drugs that attack
specific types of cancer cells without damaging
healthy cells. Cancer growth inhibitors are a
type of targeted therapy. They interfere with a
cancer cell’s ability to grow and divide. Some
cancer growth inhibitors can be used to treat
people with CML, ALL and AML. These drugs
are taken by pill or capsule. Side effects are
most likely to occur during the first few months
of treatment. Side effects may get better as
treatment continues.

26. :SURGERY
 Surgery is rarely used to treat chronic leukemia, but some
people with chronic leukemia will need to have their
spleen removed. The spleen is located in the abdomen
and is attached to the stomach, left kidney and colon. In
chronic leukemia, the spleen may become enlarged. An
enlarged spleen can cause discomfort and pain. It also
destroys red blood cells and platelets, causing anemia
and bleeding. If chemotherapy or radiation doesn't shrink
the spleen, then it may be removed by surgery. Surgery to
remove the spleen is called splenectomy. It is done under
general anesthetic .
 After surgery you may have some pain or bleeding. These
side effects are temporary, and can usually be controlled.
Without a spleen, you may be more at risk of infections.

28. GAMMA GLOBULINS (USE AS CLL DRUGS):
 One of the major portions of proteins that are
dissolved in the plasma. When plasma proteins are
separated in the laboratory, they are given the
designation of globulin. The globulins can be
separated into three major groups called alpha,
beta, or gamma fractions. The gamma globulins
contain the antibodies in the plasma. These
antibodies are now sometimes referred to as
immune globulins because they are globulins made
by immune cells, specifically B-lymphocytes and
immunoglobulin, are key products of the immune
system because they contain the antibodies that

29.  Patients with immune deficiencies such as
those with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
and some patients with lymphoma, whose B-
lymphocytes cannot make gamma globulin,
may be given pooled human gamma globulin
periodically as a treatment in an effort to
correct the deficiency and decrease the risk
of infection. This process is imperfect
because the gamma globulin pooled from
several normal human plasma donors may
not always carry enough of the specific
antibodies needed by the patient.

30. LEUKEMIA - PREVENTION
 There is no known way to prevent most types
of leukemia. Most people with leukemia do
not have known risk factors. A risk factor is
anything that raises your chances of getting a
disease.
 Some types of leukemia may be prevented by
avoiding high doses of radiation, exposure to
the chemical benzene, smoking and other
tobacco use, or certain types
of chemotherapy used to treat other types
of cancer.

31. 10122012