Handbook of Acute Leukemia

This book provides an overview of the key developments in both acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia with a comprehensive guide to the epidemiology, pathogenesis, etiology, clinical manifestations, classification, diagnosis, and staging as well as the most recent developments in the therapeutic landscape for acute leukemia. In addition, this book dedicates a section to the latest advances in childhood leukemia. Handbook of Acute Leukemia offers readers a key resource into the future outlook for patients with leukemia and is authored by an internationally renowned expert in the field. Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells and acute leukemia means the condition progresses rapidly and aggressively, requiring immediate treatment. Acute leukemia is classified according to the type of white blood cells that are affected: either lymphocytes and myeloid cells.

In October 1998, Prof Dr Wolfgang Hiddemann was appointed Director of the Department of Internal Medicine III at the University of Munich-Grosshadern and the Department of Internal Medicine with a focus on hematology and oncology at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. At Munich University Hospital he combines highly competent medicine and internationally recognized research with the comprehensive care of patients. His first experiences in hematology and oncology came after studying medicine in Bonn and Munster at the Medical Policlinic of the University of Munster (under Director Prof. H. Losse). After a period of research at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York he was junior doctor and later a senior physician at the University Hospital in Munster A (under Director Prof. J. van de Loo). In 1992 he was appointed Director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Georg-August University of Gottingen. His clinical and research activities are focused from the outset on the best possible care for patients and the development of new therapeutic concepts.