Most patients present with an acute illness of several days or less frequently, with tiredness or non-specific aches over several weeks or months.
Clinical features can be grouped into:
The patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is usually a child, whereas the patient with acute myeloid leukaemia is rarely a child.
Although the marrow is usually extensively replaced by leukaemic cells, bone-related symptoms are uncommon. Rarely there may be bone tenderness in childhood ALL.
A common presentation of childhood ALL is with joint and muscle pain. ALL does not infiltrate extra-medullary tissues - lymph nodes, spleen, liver, meninges - as much as AML.
T cell ALL with mediastinal mass may present with stridor and wheezing, pericardial effusions, and superior vena cava syndrome (1).
CNS and gastrointestinal involvement may be increased in patients with mature B cell ALL. Chin numbness is also indicative of mature B cell ALL (2).
Reference:
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