Library · Neoplasm
Acute myeloid leukemia
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Acute myeloid leukemia is a blood cancer that moves fast. What proliferates are the blasts: cells of the myeloid lineage that stayed immature, never finishing their development into the mature cells they were meant to become. They multiply clonally, meaning they all descend from a single diseased cell, and they fill the blood and the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside the bones where blood is made.
The problem is not just that there are too many blasts, but that they get in the way. Erythropoiesis, the making of red blood cells, and megakaryopoiesis, the making of the cells that give rise to platelets, both become ineffective. The marrow keeps working at full tilt, but it turns out unfinished cells that take up all the space.
That is where the visible signs come from: there are not enough red blood cells, the ones that carry oxygen, and not enough platelets, the ones that plug small wounds. Bone marrow failure sets in relatively quickly.
In brief
Acute myeloid leukemia is a fast-moving myeloid neoplasm: blasts, immature myeloid cells, expand clonally in the blood and bone marrow.
That expansion makes erythropoiesis and megakaryopoiesis ineffective and leads to relatively rapid bone marrow failure.
The marrow keeps working at full tilt, but it turns out unfinished cells that take up all the space.
The result is inadequate production of red blood cells and platelets.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAcute Myeloid Leukemia, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated