| leukaemia, erythroblastic, acute | A myeloproliferative disorder characterised by neoplastic proliferation of erythroblastic and myeloblastic elements with atypical erythroblasts and myeloblasts in the peripheral blood. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| primary erythroblastic anaemia | The dire disease also known as beta thalassaemia. The clinical picture of this form of anaemia was first described in 1925 by the paediatrician thomas benton cooley. Other names for the disease are cooley's anaemia and mediterranean anaemia. The term thalassaemia was coined by the nobel prise winning pathologist george whipple and the professor of paediatrics william bradford at u. Of rochester because thalassa in greek means the sea (like the mediterrranean sea) + -aemia means in the blood so thalassaemia means sea in the blood. Thalassaemia is not just one disease. It is a complex contingent of genetic (inherited) disorders all of which involve underproduction of haemoglobin, the indispensable molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The globin part of normal adult haemoglobin is made up of 2 alpha and 2 beta polypeptide chains. In beta thalassaemia, there is a mutation (change) in both beta globin chains leading to underproduction (or absence) of beta chains, underproduction of haemoglobin, and profound anaemia. The gene for beta thalassaemia is relatively frequent in people of mediterranean origin (for example, from italy and greece). Children with this disease inherit one gene for it from each parent (and so are said to be homozygous for beta thalassaemia). The parents are carriers (heterozygotes) with just one thalassaemia gene, are said to have thalassaemia minor, and are essentially normal. Their children affected with beta thalassaemia seem entirely normal at birth (because at birth we still have predominantly foetal haemoglobin which does not contain beta chains) but the anaemia emerges in the first few months of life and becomes progressively more severe leading to pallor and easy fatiguability, failure to thrive (grow), bouts of fever (due to infections) and diarrhoea. Treatment based on blood transfusions is helpful but not curative. Gene therapy will, it is hoped, be applicable to this disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| erythroblastic anaemia | Anaemia characterised by the presence of large numbers of nucleated red cells (normoblasts and erythroblasts) in the peripheral blood. Seen especially in newborns with haemolytic anaemia, such as that caused by Rh or ABO incompatibility. Synonym: erythroblastic anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| familial erythroblastic anaemia | An outmoded term for thalassaemia major. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute granulocytic leukaemia | <haematology> A form of leukaemia which is characterised by the proliferation of immature white blood cells (granulocytes) in the bloodstream. Occurs primarily in adults and in infants under 1 year of age. Complications include abnormal bleeding and susceptibility to infections. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (27 Sep 1997) |
| acute leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressive cancer of the blood of sudden onset and characterised by the uncontrolled proliferation of immature blood cells which take over the bone marrow and spill into the blood stream. If left untreated is fatal within a few weeks or months. See: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, acute myeloid leukaemia. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (11 Nov 1997) |
| acute lymphoblastic leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting the type of white blood cell known as lymphocytes. Approximately 650 new cases are diagnosed every year in the UK and it is the most common form of childhood leukaemia. Acronym: ALL Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (11 Nov 1997) |
| acute lymphocytic leukaemia | <radiology> 95% of cases of leukaemia in children, bone changes in 50-70% of kids (vs. 10% in adults); seen as early as 1 month after onset of symptoms, wrists and knees most commonly affected, bony defects: metaphyseal radiolucent bands! (similar findings in scurvy, JRA, syphilis), osteolytic lesions, periosteal reaction, osteosclerosis (12 Dec 1998) |
| acute monocytic leukaemia | <haematology> The most common translocation in this disorder of poorly differentiated monocytic cells involves chromosome region 11q in a large percentage of cases. The translocation involves a cellular oncogene, c-ets which is mapped to the 11q23-24 region. The most common translocations reported are t(6;11), t(9;11), t(11;17) and t(11;19), of which t(9;11) (p21-22;q23) is by far the most frequently detected and implicated in acute myeloid leukaemia. The cells express CD14 surface antigen, which is diagnostic of monocytic cells. Acronym: AML Classification: FAB M5 (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute myeloblastic leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute myelogenous leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute myeloid leukaemia | <haematology> A rapidly progressing cancer of the blood affecting immature cells of the bone marrow, usually of the white cell population. It is much more common in adults than in children. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. This leukaemia demonstrates granulocyte differentiation, eosinophilia and Auer rods and is associated with a reciprocal translocation between 8 and 21 (q22;q22), which is the most common translocation in acute myeloid leukaemia and is found more often in younger patients than in older patients. The oncogene involved in this translocation is AML1, which can be detected by Southern blot. Numerical abnormalities, particularly monosomy-7, trisomy-4, trisomy-8, trisomy-21, -Y, monosomy-7 and deletions of the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7 are quite common in all acute myeloid leukaemia and not restricted to any one FAB classification. Many of these abnormalities are observed at diagnosis and at later stage disease, particularly after chemotherapy. Prognosis is generally more favorable than in FAB-M2 patients showing no translocation, because the latter patients show better remission rates for longer periods of time. Immunophenotyping is useful in diagnosis and expression of one or more of the myeloid antigens CD13, CD14 or CD33 must be detected to make a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Acronym: AML Incidence: 2,000 new cases per year in the UK. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia | <haematology> A form of leukaemia which is characterised by the proliferation of immature bone marrow precursor cells in the marrow and immature white blood cells (granulocytes) in the bloodstream. Occurs primarily in adults and in infants under 1 year of age. Complications include abnormal bleeding and susceptibility to infections. Symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, fevers, weakness, pallor, bone pains, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, easy bruising, enlarged lymph nodes and joint pains. Trisomy-8 is the most common cytogenetic abnormality observed, followed by monosomy-7 and monosomy-5. Approximately 8% of cases show trisomy-8, mostly in AML (M1), AM (M4) and acute monocytic leukaemia (M5). Many pre-leukaemic conditions, acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia and secondary leukemia show monosomy-7 or deletion of the long arm of chromosome 7. Treatment includes chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant. Acronym: ANLL Incidence: 2.5 cases per 100,000 (all ages). Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (07 Apr 1998) |
| acute promyelocytic leukaemia | Leukaemia presenting as a severe bleeding disorder, with infiltration of the bone marrow by abnormal promyelocytes and myelocytes, a low plasma fibrinogen, and defective coagulation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia | <haematology, oncology> A sub-type of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia affecting cells early in the B lymphocyte lineage which accounts for about 80% of all acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Origin: Gr. Haima = blood (13 Nov 1997) |
| leukaemia, megakaryocytic, acute | Nonlymphocytic leukaemia in which 20-30% of the bone marrow or peripheral blood cells are of megakaryocyte lineage. Myelofibrosis or increased bone marrow reticulin is common. (12 Dec 1998) |