1. Sami Sasala Brooke McVay Tiffany Vandiver
Leukemia
Sami Sasala
Brooke McVay
Tiffany Vandiver

2. What is it?
A malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-flowing organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms.

3. What causes Leukemia? Is it inherited? Is it environmentally induced?
The following factors increase your chance in getting leukemia:
Smoking and tobacco use
Being exposed to large amounts of radiation
Being exposed to certain chemicals in the workplace
Past chemotherapy or radiation for another cancer. (This is rare, and not all chemotherapies raise your leukemia risk.)
Leukemia is not necessarily inherited, however, people with cancer is their families have a higher chance is getting it.
Leukemia can be environmentally induced if exposed to radiation other harmful chemicals.

4. What effect does it have on the body?
It weakens your immune system
Causes you to bruise very easily
Effects bone marrow- bone marrow stops producing white and red blood cells

5. Stages
There are no stages classified for leukemia but there is a progression order to figure out treatment plans and how far it has spread.
types of leukemia-
acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
Adult child
-untreated -standard(low) risk
-remission -high
-recurrent -recurrent
Acute myeloid leukemia(AML)-whether it has spread outside blood or bone marrow
chronic lymphocytic leukemia(LLL)-
stages 0 to 4
chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML)
chronic
accelerated
blastic
relapsed

6. Treatment
The treatment is based on many things such as age, type of leukemia,how far its spread and what the doctor prefers.
most common treatments -
Chemotherapy-uses chemicals to kill leukemia cells
Radiation-uses X-ray with high energy to kill the cells and to prevent growth.
Stem cell transplant -to replace bad cells with healthy cells.

7. How is it detected?
signs-weak, frequent infection,unexplained fever,abnormal bruising or excessive bleeding,enlarged lymph nodes and headaches.
medical tests-
-blood test to check blood count
-biopsy to sample od cells
-spinal tap
-ct scans
-x-rays
-MRI
-ultrasound

8. Is there a cure? Chemotherapy- the use of drugs to fight cancer
Radiation Therapy- uses high doses of radiation, such as X-Rays, to destroy cancer cells
Stem Cell Transplant- donated cells from a "matched" donor can rebuild your supply of normal blood cells and your immune system
Immunotherapy- uses your body's immune system, either directly or indirectly to fight cancer

9. Is there a way to prevent it?
Ways to prevent Leukemia are:
Do not smoke cigarettes
Do not be exposed to benzene (classed as a hydrocarbon)
Previous Chemotherapy or Radiation

10. Additional Information
There are different types of Leukemia depending on how fast it spreads and what white blood cell it affects
Chronic- gets worse slowly and may not cause symptoms for years.
Acute- gets worse very fast and may make you feel sick right away.
Lymphocytic- affects white blood cells called lymphocytes
Myelogenous- affects white blood cells called myelocytes

11. Support Groups Team AICR (American Institute for Cancer Research)
Alliance of Genetic Support Groups Inc.
Cancer Plus- Parent Support Group

12. Sources http://www.cancercenter.com