Breast cancer & obesity riskier than you think. Can cause leukaemia too

Where advances in ALL treatment have raised survival rates to around 90% over the past several decades, the rates for surviving the less well researched AML are more like 65%

When people think of leukaemia, they usually think of blood cancers that affect children. These mostly come under the category of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – or ALL – and are different to the group of blood cancers which predominantly affect adults over the age of 60, known as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

AML accounts for about 90% of all leukaemias in adults, though it affects some children too. With some 3,000 new cases each year in the UK alone, it is tougher to treat than ALL.

Where advances in ALL treatment have raised survival rates to