Hi, this is Tom, and in this episode I'm going to be going through childhood leukemia.

And you can find notes at zero to finals.com and in the zero to finals pediatrics book.

And you can find flashcards and questions at members.0.0 tofinals.com.

So let's jump straight in.

Leukemia is a cancer of immature precursor cells in the bone marrow,

leading to unregulated proliferation of a specific type of immature blood cell,

for example, lymphoblasts. Excessive production of a single type of immature blood cell, for example, lymphoblasts.

Excessive production of a single type of cell can suppress the other cell lines, and this

leads to underproduction of different cell types.

This can result in pancytopenia, which is a combination of low red blood cells causing anemia,

low white blood cells causing leukopenia, and low platelets, causing thrombocytopinia.

Let's go through the types of leukemia.

The types of leukemia that affect children from the most to the least common are acute

lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, which peaks at age two to three years, acute myeloid

leukemia, or AML, and chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, which is the most rare of these three.

Down syndrome is a key risk factor for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, and acute myeloid leukemia or AML.

Let's talk about the presentation.

The presentation of leukemia is relatively non-specific.

Potential presenting features, which will be red flags if you see them in a clinical

presentation, include persistent fatigue, fever, failure to thrive, persistent

infections, bone pain, pallor due to anemia, patiqui or bruising due to thrombocytopenia,

abnormal bleeding, again due to thrombocytopinia, abnormal bleeding, again due to thrombocitopinopathy, lymphadenopathy with swollen

...