ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with haematological malignancy, focusing on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, acute myeloid/myeloblastic leukaemia, chronic myelocytic (granulocytic) leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, and multiple myeloma. It discusses epidemiology, aetiology, pathology, symptoms and signs, diagnosis and investigations, treatment, surgery, and therapy, and treatment-related complications of the haematological malignancies. In acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, patients present with bone marrow failure, which results in malaise, lethargy, effort dyspnoea or angina owing to progressive anaemia, infection owing to leukopenia, and bleeding in the form of epistaxis, haematuria or haemoptysis owing to thrombocytopenia. High-dose chemotherapy with allogeneic (donor) stem cell or bone marrow transplantation is considered for poor-risk patients who achieve initial remission. In chronic myelocytic (granulocytic) leukaemia, initial treatment is aimed at reducing the peripheral blood white cell count to <15 × 109/L and to alleviate symptoms of splenomegaly.
