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acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL)
acute lymphocytic leukemia
acute leukemia of the lymphoblastic type, one of the two major categories of acute leukemia, primarily affecting young children. Symptoms include anemia, fatigue,
weight loss, easy bruising, thrombocytopenia, granulocytopenia with bacterial infections, bone pain, lymphadenopathy, enlargement of the liver and spleen, and sometimes spread to the central nervous system (meningism) or to other organs. There are three major subtypes: The pre–B-cell is the most common, consisting of small uniform lymphoblasts that do not synthesize complete functional immunoglobulins or synthesize heavy chains only. The B-cell type is rare and consists of lymphoblasts that express surface immunoglobulins and have a surface translocation similar to that
of Burkitt lymphoma. The T-cell type has cells that express surface antigens characteristic of T cells.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
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