Illustration of a pear on top of a pile of books

Home Class activities Facts about cancer Real life experiences Support Getting involved
HOME > Facts about cancer > Common childhood cancers > Leukaemia	Search

Leukaemia

About one-third of all children and young people with cancer in the UK are diagnosed with leukaemia. There are nearly 400 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK.

The term ‘leukaemia’ refers to cancers of the white blood cells. When someone has leukaemia, large numbers of abnormal white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal white blood cells crowd the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream. Initially leukaemia cells appear only in the bone marrow and blood, but later they may spread elsewhere.

On our youth website we’ve included a simpler explanation, with more information about symptoms and treatment.

Common types of leukemia in children and young people

Leukaemia is either acute (rapidly developing) or chronic (slowly developing). The types of leukaemia most likely to occur in children and teens are acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML).


	Chemotherapy is the main treatment for this type of cancer.

Acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of leukaemia that involves a particular sort of white blood cells called lymphocytes. ALL is more common in boys than girls. It is also known as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) is a type of leukaemia that does not involve lymphocytes. It is also known as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) because the cancerous cells are myeloid white blood cells.

Chemotherapy is usually the main treatment for this type of cancer, although in some cases radiotherapy is also used.

For more details about this or any other type of cancer, visit www.cancerbacup.org.uk