Leukemia is the 10th most common cancer in the U.S., accounting for 3.2% of all new cancer cases. Leukemia can affect anyone, but it's more common among people who are: Ages 65 to 74.
Risk factors that may cause leukemia
Gender: Men are more likely than women to develop leukemia. Age: The risk of most leukemias increases with age. The median age of a patient diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is 65 years and older.
Who gets leukemia? Although it is often thought of as a children's disease, most cases of leukemia occur in older adults. More than half of all leukemia cases occur in people over the age of 65.
Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and teens, accounting for almost 1 out of 3 cancers. Overall, however, childhood leukemia is a rare disease. About 3 out of 4 leukemias among children and teens are acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
In the United States, overall, 5-year survival among people diagnosed with leukemia is 65%. However, these statistics vary greatly according to the specific subtype of disease: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 5-year survival rate is 88%. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) 5-year survival rate is 71.3%.
People in stages 0 to II may live for 5 to 20 years without treatment. CLL has a very high incidence rate in people older than 60 years. CLL affects men more than women. If the disease has affected the B cells, the person's life expectancy can range from 10 to 20 years.
6. Is leukemia curable if caught early? If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
Call Your Doctor About Leukemia If:
Your blood cell count should be tested. You experience unexplained bleeding, high fever, or a seizure. You may need emergency treatment for acute leukemia. You are in remission from leukemia and notice signs of recurrence, such as infection or easy bleeding.
Leukemia is a cancer of the early blood-forming cells. Most often, leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, but some leukemias start in other blood cell types.
Can leukemia be cured? While there is currently no cure for leukemia, it is possible to treat the cancer to prevent it from coming back. Treatment success depends on a range of factors.
Many people don't have any symptoms for at least a few years. In time, the cells can spread to other parts of the body, including the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen.
Leukemia starts in the soft, inner part of the bones (bone marrow), but often moves quickly into the blood. It can then spread to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs.
Generally for all people with ALL:
more than 65 out of 100 people (more than 65%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after being diagnosed.
Doctors diagnose leukemia most often in people older than 55. But it's also the most common cancer in children under 15. Each year, doctors diagnose about 60,000 people in the U.S. with leukemia.
Like most types of cancers, the earlier you can diagnose and begin treatment for leukemia, the more likely you are to have a successful outcome. However, early symptoms of leukemia can vary depending on the type of leukemia and are often easily confused with other, more common, illnesses.
Leukemia symptoms are often vague and not specific. You may overlook early leukemia symptoms because they may resemble symptoms of the flu and other common illnesses. Sometimes leukemia is discovered during blood tests for some other condition.
The 5-year relative survival rate for ALL is 68.8%. The statistics further break down to 90% in children and 30-40% in adults. Other factors influence survival.
Acute leukemia symptoms can often appear suddenly
With acute leukemia, symptoms tend to develop very quickly. You may suddenly spike a fever that won't go away, develop an infection for no apparent reason, or start bleeding spontaneously from your nose or gums and not be able to stop it.
Symptoms of blood cancers often can go unnoticed. Fevers, aches and exhaustion can be found with the common cold or flu. And who doesn't wake up in the morning feeling tired? But for a specific age group of women, symptoms of blood cancers, especially leukemia, can easily be missed.
Slower growing leukaemias such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) may cause no symptoms in the early stages. They may be discovered by chance after a routine blood test. If you do have symptoms, these may be mild and develop gradually.
Laboratory tests, and specifically blood tests, are among the most important diagnostic tools for leukemia. For some types of leukemia, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, blood tests may be the only test needed to confirm the diagnosis (but other tests may be used to find out more about the cancer).
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL): On average, people with this cancer survive 9 years, although some have lived for decades, cancer always comes back at some point.
Younger people tend to do better than older people. For those younger than 40: more than 50 out of 100 (more than 50%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis.