Abbreviated AML, acute myeloid leukemia forms inside the bone marrow, a cancer of the soft tissue that forms blood cells. The cancer cells form from the cells that would have been white blood cells, the ones responsible for infection-fighting.
Symptoms
The signs of AML include pallor, fever, fatigue, bleeding from the nose, gum bleeding, and bruising. Other symptoms include bone pain, bone tenderness, heavy menstruation, shortness of breath, skin rashes, skin lesions, weight loss, and rarely swollen gums.
Diagnosis
There are a couple of tests given to secure a diagnosis. Blood tests like a CBC test can should a low number of platelets for the anemia. There can be a physical exam to see about swollen lymph nodes, spleen or liver. There may be a bone marrow aspiration done where there is a needle poked into the bone marrow to see if there is leukemia cells. There are several subtypes of AML, eight in all, depending on which blood cells are abnormal.
Treatment
Treatment for this type of cancer includes chemotherapy, antibiotics, red blood cells transfusion, platelet transfusion, and a bone marrow transplant. Most all the different subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia is treated in this manner. Your doctor will also try to isolate you from other people and places so that you do not get an infection while your immune system is so compromised.
After five years of remission, or periods of time where there is no more symptoms of the condition, you are considered cured. While the cancer may come back at a later time, typically those in remission will stay in remission.
Source: A.D.A.M.