Leukemia is a disease of the bone marrow and blood that is known to affect normal blood cell production. Normal blood cells have a limited period of life and they need to be constantly replaced by fresh, young cells to carry on their activity. There is a type of cell within the bone marrow (stem cell) that matures into the type of blood cells that the body needs. In normal condition, these stem cells develop either into red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets, into a controlled way. Leukemia perturbs the normal development of blood cells and causes the accumulation of partially developed cells, that arent able to fulfill their role inside the organism.
Judging by the speed of development and the persistence of the disorder, there are two types of leukemia: acute leukemia and chronic leukemia. Judging by the types of stem cells affected by the disorder, leukemia can either be lymphocytic or myelogenous.
Acute leukemia differs from chronic leukemia by the levels that stem cells are able to reach in their development (stem cells that present anomalies still manage to partially develop and either resemble immature cells or complete, normal white blood...