CNS Leukemia is a cancer that affects white blood cells. There are many types of leukemia. Each one is named for the kind of white blood cell it affects. These include myelocytes, lymphocytes, plasma cells, and other types of white blood cells. Leukemia is also characterized as being acute or chronic.
Acute leukemia refers to a leukemia that is very aggressive and worsens over a brief period.
All blood components are produced in the bone marrow. The bone marrow is very active because blood cells must be replaced all the time. When a white blood cell undergoes cancerous changes, it begins growing and multiplying uncontrollably. The cancerous white cells crowd out the other blood cells. Eventually, the cancerous cells take up so much of the bone marrow that normal amounts of blood cells are not produced.