The difference between Leukemia and Lymphoma

[nkferg]

Saw this on youtube for those of you wish to know. Fast forward to the 20 min mark. Dr. Najeeb is lecturing to MD students, but it is very easy to follow. If you have any medical interest the first 20 mins is good as well.

youtube.com/watch?v=TERow_u...(Not working as expected?)

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Great find and I'd say it is well worth watching all part one and the beginning of part two, where SLL/CLL gets particular mention. Watch this and you'll appreciate that we can be said to have Leukaemia and Lymphoma! You will also be intrigued to see the doctors in the audience struggling to define the difference between leukaemia and lymphoma, (which might encourage some of us to reconsider whether our oncologist knows the difference let alone our GP).

Also after watching this, you'll understand better why we shouldn't be too concerned about large jumps in our White Blood Cell counts; the lecturer notes that a WBC can jump to 30 or even 50 with an infection! Why we should monitor our Absolute Lymphocyte Count, (ALC), not our WBC also becomes abundantly clear!

Part 2

m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=2yf...

The difference between CLL and SLL

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Thanks!

Neil

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to AussieNeil]

Part 3 also discusses CLL/SCL as they put it, in relation to other leukemias and lymphomas...big family.

[Ajkeli73]

Thank you very much. He explained it in the layman's terms and very easy to understand. Great video

[wroxham-gb]

Thanks for the video.

My brain struggled to keep up with the speed of the dialogue. Is there any way of slowing the video down. This doctor obviously loves his job, it shows.

Leukemia cells spread throughout the body via the blood? Lymphoma cells are sticky so congregate in the nodes? How do they get there? I know I'm missing something here. Help!!

Thank you .

Sue

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to wroxham-gb]

Sue I wouldn't worry too much if you had trouble following the lecture. I had to replay sections more than a few times to catch what Dr. Najeeb said, mainly because of his unfamiliar (to me) pronunciation.

The take home points are that for CLL patients, the same cells are responsible for leukaemia (a rising lymphocyte count in the blood) and lymphoma (a mass of lymphocyte cells forming in lymphoid tissue, e.g. swelling nodes, spleen and perhaps liver). When we have CLL, the only part of our body that doesn't have CLL cells is the cornea in our eyes. That's because the clear lens material doesn't have a blood supply or we wouldn't be able to see!

As Dr. Najeeb explained, blood cells that are responsible for leukaemia are like milk, flowing throughout our body. If the blood cells are more sticky, they clump together in lymphoid tissue, causing lymphoma masses, which is why we can have bulky lymph nodes, etc.

Interestingly, the newer inhibitor drugs such as Ibrutinib and Idelalisib actually suppress this sticky nature of CLL cells so that they effectively 'liquefy' and flow into our blood, where they are more vulnerable.

Neil

[wroxham-gb in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks Neil.

Yet another sunny day here.

Sue

Like the idea that Idealisib makes the Cll cells less sticky and more vulnerable.

[fieldmeadow in reply to AussieNeil]

I don't always watch the videos - I just wait for Neil to give us the bullet points - so much easier on the brain!

Thankyou Neil.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to fieldmeadow]

I rarely watch the videos - I don't have the time! So I really do appreciate it when anyone provides a summary of posted videos!

Thanks everyone!

Neil