The leukemias.

Leukemia is a fairly common blood dyscrasia characterized by unrestrained overgrowth of tissues which normally form leukocytes, as well as by areas of leukopoietic proliferation in other parts of the body. There is much to indicate that it is a neoplastic disease. Although the length of life of patients with leukemia varies greatly, the disease always ends fatally. Different types of leukemia may present such widely varying clinical pictures that many diseases are suggested. During the past thirteen years 357 patients with leukemia have been studied in the Cleveland Clinic. Detailed blood studies in all cases were made in the hematology laboratory, and bone marrow preparations were studied when indicated. When a blood examination shows a definite leukemia, a bone marrow film only confirms the diagnosis; but when the diagnosis from the blood examination is difficult because of leukopenia or a scarcity of immature cells, the marrow findings may be diagnostic. All blood and marrow preparations are kept in a permanent file for review.