What is Acute Leukemia?

Transcript

What is leukemia and what does it mean?

Leukemia is tricky because people have an idea of what the term implies because it’s actually pretty broad. And the thing that most people are thinking about when they say leukemia is really aggressive, is acute leukemia. But there are diagnoses that have acute leukemia in it, and they have the word chronic or chronic leukemia in it.

Acute leukemia in general is very aggressive. It’s something that needs to be recognized quickly, is aggressive and can cause problems quickly like weight loss and fatigue and low blood counts, and usually needs high dose chemotherapy. So yes, acute leukemia of any kind is something that is highly fatal.

Some statistics say at the time of diagnosis in America, in any center, whether it’s tertiary, urgent care or ER, 50% of people will pass away within 48 hours to 72 hours of that diagnosis. So it’s something that usually comes on quickly and is diagnosed sometimes a little later than it should be and just needs rapid attention.

Key Takeaways

1. Leukemia is a broad term but the really aggressive type is acute leukemia, rather chronic leukemia.

2. It can cause problems quickly like weight loss and fatigue and low blood counts, and usually needs high dose chemotherapy.

3. Acute leukemia of any kind is something that is highly fatal.

4. Some statistics say at the time of diagnosis in America, 50% of people will pass away within 48 hours to 72 hours.