Is there a difference between myelogenous leukemia and lymphocytic leukemia?

Yes: Myelogenous leukemia involves a different early cell type than lymphocytic leukemia. Both can originate in the bone marrow but the diseases behave differently in both their acute and chronic forms. Different treatment regimens and strategies are used for the two and that is why it is so important to distinguish the exact type of leukemia. There are major differences within these 2 categories.

Different types: Myelogenous leukemia- overproduction of the immature or mature myeloid cell types- those cells that would normally mature into neutrophils, platelets, monocytes, or red blood cells lymphocytic leukemia- overproduction of immature or mature lymphocyte cell types- those that would normally mature into various lymphocyte subtypes.

Different cells: Myeloid cells and cancer (eg, aml, cml) are different than lymphoid cells and cancer (eg, all, cll). Just as breast cancer and colon cancer are different. Of course they are bone marrow cancers with blood cells and the differences are not like the solid tumor differences i mentioned above. The disease course and treatments are different based on the diagnosis and other factors.

Different cells: These are cancers of two different types of blood cells: lymphocytes and myeloid cells. Myeloid cells are represented by a more heterogenous population of cells including neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes, megakaryocytes, each causing different types of leukemia. These leukemias can also be acute or chronic. Generally, lymphocytic is better than myeloid, and chronic better than acute.