Leukemia

Objective: To understand types ,presentations , diagnosis, lines of treatment and prognosis of childhood leukemia.
The leukemias may be defined as a group of malignant diseases in which genetic abnormalities in a hematopoietic cell give rise to an unregulated clonal proliferation of cells. These cells over growth, advantage over normal cellular elements, because of their increased rate of proliferation and a decreased rate of spontaneous apoptosis.
The leukemias are the most common malignant neoplasms in childhood, accounting for approximately 31% of all malignancies that occur in children younger than 15 yr of age.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounts for approximately 77%of cases of childhood leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)for approximately 11%, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) for 2-3%, and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) for 1-2%. The remaining cases consist of a variety of acute and chronic leukemias that do not fit classic definitions for ALL, AML, CML, or JMML.