A few of the different types of Leukemia include Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Chronic Myelogenous (CML), and the rare form of Leukemia called Erythroleukemia (EL). As found to be true in many other diseases with different forms, the different forms of Leukemia have their own rates of survival.
The most common form of Leukemia is the Acute Lymphoblasic Leukemia (ALL). This form consists of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that gather in the bone marrow and replace normal blood cells. In most cases the lymphocytes end up spreading to other parts of the body such as the spleen, liver, and lymph nodes. ALL is usual found in children and teenagers and is one of the best forms of Leukemia to be diagnosed with because it has the highest rate of survival. The survival of patients infected with ALL is eighty percent for a full cure and ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent for an initial complete remission (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). It seems to be that the number of cases of this form of Leukemia increase approximately one percent every year. With the new research available the patients infected with this form of Leukemia are being saved just as fast as the percentage of cases is increasing.
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) on the other hand is usually found in the elderly and is not as hopeful. CML is caused by a cytogenetic abnormality, which is a reciprocal of one of the patient's chromosomes. Currently not many people survive CML and are given, on an average, four to six years to live. Some cases have been known to survive only a few months when others have survived for ten years (Chronic Mylengenous Leukemia). .
The third form of Leukemia, Erythroleukemia (EL), is different than the other two that were previously mentioned because it is the red blood cells that are abnormal instead of the white blood cells. The EL red bloods cells are abnormal because they are enlarged and are too big to function in the way that they were meant to function.