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leukemia

[ loo-kee-mee-uh ]

noun

, Pathology.
  1. any of several cancers of the bone marrow that prevent the normal manufacture of red and white blood cells and platelets, resulting in anemia, increased susceptibility to infection, and impaired blood clotting.


leukemia

/ lo̅o̅-kēmē-ə /

  1. Any of various acute or chronic neoplastic diseases of the bone marrow in which unrestrained proliferation of white blood cells occurs, usually accompanied by anemia, impaired blood clotting, and enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen. Certain viruses, genetic defects, chemicals, and ionizing radiation, are associated with an increased risk of leukemia, which is classified according to the cellular maturity of the involved white blood cells.


leukemia

  1. A kind of cancer in which the number of white blood cells in the blood greatly increases. Leukemia usually spreads to the spleen , liver , lymph nodes , and other areas of the body, causing destruction of tissues and often resulting in death.


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Other Words From

  • leu·kemic adjective
  • anti·leu·kemic adjective noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of leukemia1

First recorded in 1850–55; earlier leuchaemia, from German Leukämie; equivalent to leuko- + -emia

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Example Sentences

Blister rust is like having the flu; the pine beetle is like fast acting leukemia.

Sadly, though she folded more than 1,000 cranes, she died of leukemia on October 25, 1955.

Last year the FDA approved its use for another kind of leukemia that affects children.

Gleevec treats myeloid leukemia and has turned a terminal disease into a chronic one for many patients.

Diagnosed with refractory acute myeloid leukemia at age 7, Sam was very brave but also very sick.

It occurs in well-marked cases of pernicious anemia and leukemia, and, much less commonly, in very severe symptomatic anemias.

(c) They are decreased in chronic lymphatic leukemia, and greatly increased in the myelogenous form.

Pathologically, normoblasts occur in severe symptomatic anemia, leukemia, and pernicious anemia.

A marked increase, accompanied by an increase in the total leukocyte count, is seen in pertussis and lymphatic leukemia.

A notable increase is limited almost exclusively to myelogenous leukemia, where they are sometimes very numerous.

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Leukasleukemic reticuloendotheliosis