The cancer of the blood and bone marrow is called erythroleukemia. Acute erythroid leukemia is a rare form of acute myeloid leukemia.

Erythroleukemia occurs in 3% to 5% of all people with AML. Erythroleukemia is different from other subtypes of AML because it mostly involves a type of blood-forming cell called the erythroblasts.

Knowing your subtype ofAML can help you decide on the best treatment options. If you are unsure about which type of leukemia you have, talk to your doctor to learn how your leukemia might affect your treatment and outlook.

Erythroleukemia occurs when your body produces a large amount of abnormal red blood cells in the blood and bone marrow.

The bone marrow is a soft tissue found in the center of your bones. It’s responsible for producing new blood cells and other important cells in your body.

There are two types of bone marrow.

  • Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are made by the red bone marrow.
  • The bone marrow makes various cells.

AML occurs when there’s a problem with the cells in the red bone marrow known as myeloid cells.

“Damage to the DNA of developing blood cells is a problem in the disease. Scientists don’t know what caused the damage. The damage to your genes causes your blood cells to divide.”

“These cells don’t work properly and don’t die off at a natural point in their life cycle, unlike healthy blood cells. They build up and spread around the body. The cancer cells outnumber the healthy cells in the blood over time.”

Erythroleukemia is a type of leukemia that occurs in the red bone marrow. It affects specific red bone marrow cells. Erythroblasts are cells that make red blood cells.

Erythroleukemia can occur at any age and in both male and female individuals but usually affects men with an average age of 65 years. It’s occasionally also present in very young children.

Doctors consider it very rare. The only large study to track the total number of cases across a population group took place in England in the 1980s and 1990s. It found that this type of cancer occurs in less than 1 in a million people per year.

Erythroleukemia can also occur with other cancers, including myeloproliferative neoplasms or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

Other risk factors include:

  • Ionizing radiation exposure history
  • Chemo treatment for another cancer.
  • There are rare genetic chromosomal anomalies.

The abnormal blood cells outnumber the healthy blood cells over time. The following symptoms can be caused by not having enough healthy blood cells.

Your doctor will ask about your symptoms, take your family history, and conduct a physical exam.

Doctors can’t diagnose erythroleukemia from just a single test. To diagnose erythroleukemia and differentiate it from other subtypes of AML or other blood cancers, doctors will take a blood or bone marrow sample to send to a lab for testing.

Blood and bone marrow tests can be used for erythroleukemia.

  • Complete blood count (CBC): A CBC uses a sample of your blood to count the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. People with AML often have a high number of white blood cells and a low number of red blood cells and platelets.
  • Peripheral blood smear: A blood smear looks at the shape, size, and amount of cells in the blood. This test looks specifically for leukemia (blast) cells, which aren’t normally in the blood.
  • Cytochemistry: This test exposes blood cells to chemical stains (dyes) that react with specific types of leukemia cells. This test, in particular, can help your doctor differentiate between AML and acute lymphocytic leukemia.
  • Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy: A doctor may take a bone marrow sample or a small section of bone containing marrow and examine it under a microscope.
  • Flow cytometry: This test helps identify specific markers on cells by seeing if certain antibodies stick to them. Flow cytometry can help classify AML into different subtypes. This is called immunophenotyping.
  • Molecular tests: These tests look for specific changes in the chromosomes (long strands of DNA) and genes in leukemia cells.

Doctors will then use this information to understand what subtype of AML you have based on a classification system developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Doctors previously divided erythroleukemia into two categories (erythroleukemia of erythroid/myeloid type and pure erythroid leukemia), but this is no longer the case. Scientists have proposed that erythroleukemia should fall into a category of blood cancers known as MDS. However, there’s still some debate on how doctors should classify these cancers.

The treatments for erythroleukemia are similar to those for other types of leukemia.

The current treatment includes intensive chemotherapy and stem cell transplants.

Chemotherapy drugs destroy cancer cells and keep them from growing. Chemotherapy can cause many side effects.

Common side effects from chemotherapy include:

Stem cells are special human cells that can develop into many different cell types, including red blood cells. Stem cell transplants, also called bone marrow transplants, restore bone marrow cells lost due to chemotherapy.

Not everyone with erythroleukemia can get a stem cell transplant. A stem cell transplant is a very intensive process and can lead to serious problems.

  • It is an infectious disease
  • There was bleeding.
  • Lung problems.
  • graft-versus-host disease, which is a condition in which the donor’s cells attack your body
  • The disease is called hepatic veno-occlusive.
  • “The transplant cells don’t produce new cells as expected because of the graft failure.”

Doctors measure outlook in terms of survival. The percentage of people with a certain disease who are still alive five years after their diagnosis is described in the 5-year overall survival.

The 5-year survival rate for AML is 30.5%, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The 5-year survival rate is calculated based on the data from the past. Recent advances in treatments and new research that leads to a better understanding of a disease are not taken into account.

In general, the outlook is worse for people with erythroleukemia compared with other types of AML because erythroleukemia can be harder to treat than other types of AML. Since it’s so rare, there’s no 5-year survival rate available. According to a few older studies, the median survival for erythroleukemia is between 3 and 9 months.

Many other factors can affect your outlook apart from the subtype. According to the American Cancer Society, these factors also play a role in your outlook and response to treatment:

  • There are chromosomal abnormality.
  • There are genetic changes.
  • Markers on the leukemia cells.
  • The white blood cell counts are used.
  • Having a blood disorder.
  • It is an infectious diseases
  • The cancer has spread in the body.
  • Your age and general health.

A rare blood cancer called erythroleukemia is a type of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The outlook is worse than other types of blood cancer, but progress has been made to understand the features and genes that cause it. Scientists are trying to develop new therapies.

If you have erythroleukemia, your doctor may recommend enrolling in a clinical trial to study new treatment options. Be sure to talk with a doctor about the potential benefits and risks of joining a clinical trial.