Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts. Malignant, immature white blood cells continuously multiply and are overproduced in the bone marrow. ALL causes damage and death by crowding out normal cells in the bone marrow, and by spreading to other organs. ALL is most common in childhood with a peak incidence at 2–5 years of age, and another peak in old age. Cure is a realistic goal. ≥94% of children have continuous disease-free survival for 5 years and appear cured. 30-40% of adults have continuous disease-free survival for 5 years. Acute refers to the relatively short time course of the disease to differentiate it from the very different disease of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which has a potential time course of many years. It is interchangeably referred to as Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic. This refers to the cells that are involved, which if they were normal would be referred to as lymphocytes but are seen in this disease in a relatively immature state. Wikipedia [ - ]

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells... [ + ]