Childhood leukemia is the most common malignancy in childhood, accounting for 90% to 95% of acute leukemia, with a higher incidence in males than females. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia accounts for 75% of acute leukemia in children, with the highest number of cases occurring in preschool and school age, but even newborns can get leukemia.
The clinical manifestations of all types of acute leukemia are basically the same. Most of them have an acute onset, and the early manifestations may include pallor, lack of energy, weakness, low appetite, nasal or gum bleeding, and so on. Most of the children have fever at the beginning of the disease. One of the causes of fever is leukemic fever, and the other is due to infection, which causes high fever. Anemia is usually present in the early stages of the disease, mainly due to suppression of bone marrow stem cells. Bleeding from the skin and mucous membranes is particularly common, manifested by purpura, petechiae, nosebleeds, gingival bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding and hematuria, and occasionally intracranial bleeding can cause death.
Leukemic cell infiltration can cause enlargement of liver and spleen lymph nodes, bone and joint infiltration causing bone and joint pain in affected children, central nervous system infiltration causing central nervous system leukemia, testicular infiltration, green tumors, and infiltration of other organs.
In summary, the common symptoms of childhood leukemia are fever, anemia, bleeding, infection, and manifestations of various organs caused by leukemic cell infiltration.