Hematologic Malignancies Program

Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia | Symptoms | Treatment Phases | Treatment Options | Clinical Trials | Greenebaum Cancer Center

What is Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia?

Childhood acute myeloid leukemia (also called acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, or AML) is a disease of the blood-forming tissue, primarily the bone marrow and lymph nodes. It is less common than acute lymphocytic leukemia (also called acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL), another form of leukemia that occurs in children. Children with Down's syndrome have an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia during the first three years of life.

Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside the large bones in the body. Bone marrow cells are produced by immature, immortal stem cells. These cells produce slightly more mature cells called blasts, which develop into the following types of blood cells that have specific jobs to do in the body:

The bone marrow controls the production of normal cells. In patients with leukemia the production process breaks down and the bone marrow starts producing large numbers of abnormal cells of only one cell type, usually one of the white cells. These abnormal, immature cells then flood the blood stream and lymph system and may invade vital organs such as the brain, testes, ovaries, or skin. In rare cases, acute myeloid leukemia tumor cells appear as a solid tumor called an isolated granulocytic sarcoma or chloroma.

Acute myeloid leukemia progresses quickly and can occur in children and adults, but the treatment is different for children than for adults.


This page was last updated on: March 3, 2008.