Identification

• When a child develops leukemia, his bone marrow makes too many abnormal white blood cells. White blood cells are normally used to fight infection, but illness can result when an overabundance of abnormal cells are produced. Oxygen-rich red blood cells and platelets, essential to blood clotting, are also produced by bone marrow. When leukemia occurs, white blood cells grow at an uncontrollable rate, decreasing the number of healthy red blood cells and platelets available. The combination of too many white blood cells and not enough red blood cells and platelets may cause such symptoms as weight loss, weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, frequent infections, bruising, swollen lymph nodes, anemia, night sweats, and joint or bone pain. Leukemia treatment is aimed at restoring the balance between red and white blood cells.
  
  

Types

• Types of leukemia found in children include Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic myeloid leukemia, (CML), acute myeloid leukemia and juvenile myelomoncytic leukemia. ALL is the most commonly diagnosed form of childhood leukemia, according to the American Cancer Society. When children develop leukemia, they are more likely to develop an acute, or rapidly progressing, form of the disease.
  
  

Induction Chemotherapy

• Combination chemotherapy is the primary treatment for leukemia. Drugs are taken in pill form or are given through an intravenous drip and work by targeting and killing rapidly dividing cancer cells. The first phase of treatment begins with induction, during which the child receives a combination of several drugs. The type of chemotherapy drugs used depends on the type of leukemia that your child has. After induction, most of the leukemia cells may be killed in the bone marrow, putting your child into remission.
  
  

Intrathecal Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy drugs may also be injected into the cerebrospinal fluid that runs through the spinal cord in order to kill any leukemia cells that may have spread to the spinal cord or brain. This type of treatment, called intrathecal chemotherapy, has a slight risk of causing epileptic seizures.
  
  

Radiation Therapy

• In some cases, radiation therapy may be needed in conjunction with intrathecal treatment. Radiation therapy is usually used for children with an extremely high white blood cells count, those with leukemia cells in the spinal fluid and older children. During radiation therapy, your child receives high doses of radiation that kill cancer cells, and reduces the size of an enlarged spleen or swollen lymph nodes.
  
  

Consolidation and Maintenance Chemotherapy

• Consolidation, the most intense part of chemotherapy treatment, uses a new combination of drugs, depending on the form of the disease. Treatment is aimed at killing remaining leukemia cells. Maintenance therapy may be used for several months or years after the initial rounds of therapy. Lower doses of chemotherapy are used for this form of therapy, which is helpful in preventing recurrences.
  
  

Bone Marrow Transplants

• If other treatments don't reduce the number of white cells or the leukemia has recurred, a bone marrow transplant may be needed. During a bone marrow transplant, your child will receive stem cells, immature blood cells that are taken from a donor, from your child before cancer treatment begins or from the umbilical cord of an infant. The goal of a bone marrow transplant is to replace diseased bone marrow with healthy marrow, with the hope that the healthy bone marrow will begin producing normal cells.