If someone has just used the phrase blood cancer with you, the honest answer is that there is no single answer. Blood cancer is an umbrella word. It covers different diseases that start in the blood, in the bone marrow where blood cells are made, or in the lymphatic system. The medical names for them are leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Each of those words covers several diseases of its own.
This guide walks through the names in plain language. It covers what each one points to in the body, why one disease turns up under two spellings, and why a single disease sits in two categories at once.
Nothing here is medical advice, and this article cannot tell anyone what they have. Only a doctor who can examine them and order the right tests can do that.
In this guide
- The short answer
- Where the umbrella words come from
- Leukemia and its four main names
- Lymphoma, Hodgkin, and everything else
- Myeloma and the plasma cell family
- Other names that show up in blood cancer
- Why the same disease has two names
- What the words are built from
- How to use these names with a doctor
- Questions people ask
- What to take away
The short answer
Ask for the medical name and you will usually get one of three.
- Leukemia. Cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to enter the bloodstream, which is how the National Cancer Institute defines it.
- Lymphoma. Cancer that begins in cells of the immune system, per the same dictionary’s entry on lymphoma.
- Myeloma. Cancer that begins in plasma cells, the white blood cells that make antibodies.
Above all three sits the term hematologic cancer, which the Institute also calls blood cancer, using the two interchangeably. Hematologic malignancy is another common synonym, and the National Library of Medicine indexes it as an official medical heading.
The catch is that none of the three is a diagnosis. Each is a shelf. A report saying leukemia is like a report saying infection. It tells you the shelf, not the book.
Where the umbrella words come from
Two sets of tissue make all of this possible, and the names sort themselves by which one they point to.
The first is the bone marrow, the soft spongy tissue in the center of most bones. Red marrow holds the blood stem cells that become red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.
The second is the lymphatic system, a network of vessels, nodes, and organs. Lymph is the clear watery fluid that carries white blood cells through lymph vessels, and lymph nodes filter it along the way. Lymphoma is named for this system.
The National Cancer Institute files leukemia, lymphoma, and the plasma cell cancers under one heading it calls hematologic or blood. The American Cancer Society describes the same group the same way, noting that some of these cancers grow quickly while others develop more slowly.
Leukemia and its four main names
The word leukemia comes from two Greek words for white and blood. The German pathologist Rudolf Virchow coined it in 1851, after seeing a blood sample under a microscope with an abnormal number of white blood cells.
That still works as the family name, and the Institute is direct about it. Leukemia is a broad term for cancers of the blood cells. What kind of leukemia someone has depends on two things: which blood cell became cancerous, and whether it grows quickly or slowly.
Those two questions give the specific names.
Acute or chronic, first. The entry on acute leukemia calls it a rapidly progressing cancer. The entry on chronic leukemia calls it a slowly progressing one. Both start in blood-forming tissue and produce large numbers of white blood cells. The words acute and chronic describe pace and nothing else. They do not tell you which cell is involved.
Lymphoblastic or myeloid, second. This is the part about the cell itself.
- A lymphoblast is an immature cell that can develop into a mature lymphocyte. A lymphocyte is an immune cell made in the bone marrow, with two main kinds, B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.
- Myeloid means having to do with the bone marrow or with certain blood-forming cells found there. The Institute notes that myeloid is sometimes used as a synonym for myelogenous, so acute myeloid leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia are the same disease.
Combine the two and you get the four main names:
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). An aggressive form that comes on quickly, with too many lymphoblasts in the blood and bone marrow. Also called acute lymphocytic leukemia.
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A cancer in which too many myeloblasts are found in the bone marrow and blood. NCI says it is most common in older adults. Older names include acute myelogenous leukemia and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia.
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). An indolent, or slow-growing, cancer with too many immature lymphocytes mostly in the blood and bone marrow.
- Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). A slow-growing cancer with too many myeloblasts in the blood and bone marrow, usually marked by a chromosome change called the Philadelphia chromosome.
One more named form sits alongside these. Hairy cell leukemia is a rare leukemia in which abnormal B lymphocytes appear under a microscope to be covered with tiny hair-like projections. The name describes how the cells look, not how the disease behaves.
Lymphoma, Hodgkin, and everything else
Lymphoma is the broad term for cancer that begins in cells of the immune system. Rather than one disease, it is a large group of cancers that vary considerably. The Institute splits it into two basic categories, and the split turns on a feature you can see under a microscope.
Hodgkin lymphoma is marked by the presence of a Reed-Sternberg cell. These are large abnormal lymphocytes that may contain more than one nucleus, and their number rises as the disease advances. That cell gives the disease its name, and the older name Hodgkin disease is still in use. The two major types are classic Hodgkin lymphoma and nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is everything else. The dictionary defines it as any of a large group of cancers of lymphocytes, and NCI sorts the group by two qualities. The first is pace: aggressive and fast-growing, or indolent and slow-growing. The second is the kind of cell the cancer grew from, either B cells or T cells.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is where a reader meets the odd-sounding names:
- Burkitt lymphoma, a fast-growing B-cell cancer.
- Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the other fast-growing B-cell cancer on the list.
- Follicular lymphoma, a slow-growing B-cell cancer.
- Mantle cell lymphoma, named for the mantle-like rim of cells around a lymph node.
- Mycosis fungoides, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that first appears on the skin and can spread to lymph nodes or other organs.
Mycosis fungoides is worth a second look. The name sounds like a fungal infection, and it is not one. It survives from an era when doctors believed it was, and the disease is now classified as a lymphoma. Names outlive the ideas that produced them.
Myeloma and the plasma cell family
The third main category starts in a cell with a specific job. Plasma cells are white blood cells that make antibodies, the proteins that attach to harmful substances so the immune system can destroy them. Myeloma is cancer of those cells.
Here the wording tells you how much disease there is. NCI is plain about the rule that decides which name applies. One tumor is a plasmacytoma, which may turn into multiple myeloma. More than one tumor is multiple myeloma.
The word multiple is doing real work. The cells build up in the bone marrow and form tumors in many bones. They also make extra antibody protein, which can thicken the blood and stop the marrow from producing healthy cells. Multiple myeloma also answers to other names. NCI lists Kahler disease, myelomatosis, and plasma cell myeloma.
Other names that show up in blood cancer
The three main categories are not the whole list. Two more named groups belong here.
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) is what the Institute calls a cancer in which the bone marrow does not make enough healthy blood cells, with abnormal cells in the blood or bone marrow. The word syndrome is honest. These are patterns rather than one disease, and NCI notes that the syndrome sometimes becomes acute myeloid leukemia.
Myeloproliferative neoplasms are diseases in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells, platelets, or certain white blood cells. These are among the few blood cancers named for what the marrow does rather than a cell type. Named members include polycythemia vera, primary myelofibrosis, and essential thrombocythemia. Some may become acute myeloid leukemia.
Watch for a category that overlaps. Chronic myeloid leukemia appears on both lists. NCI files it among the myeloproliferative neoplasms, and it also heads its own leukemia section.
Why the same disease has two names
Two patterns account for most of the doubling up in these names.
The same disease, two spellings for one cell. Myeloid and myelogenous mean the same thing, and the Institute says so outright. Lymphoblastic and lymphocytic do the same work. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia are one disease under two names.
Leukemia and lymphoma describing the same cells in different places. This one confuses people more than any other. The same cell can become cancerous in the blood, where the disease is called leukemia, or in the lymph nodes, where it is called lymphoma. NCI’s entry on chronic lymphocytic leukemia records that when the cancer cells are found in the lymph nodes in later stages, the disease is called small lymphocytic lymphoma instead.
Names also lag behind current use because names get shortened as they spread. Blood cancer is easier to say in a headline than hematologic malignancy, so the plainer word wins. Two words for one thing is not a sign of a mistake.
What the words are built from
Once you see the parts, the names stop looking arbitrary. Three building blocks do most of the work.
- The blood element. Hemato- means blood, and it is where hematologic comes from. Lymph refers to the lymphatic fluid. Myelo- refers to marrow. Leuk- is the Greek word for white.
- The ending -emia, a word-forming element in pathology meaning condition of the blood.
- The ending -oma, which in medical use means a morbid growth, or tumor.
Put those pieces together and the specific names assemble themselves. Leuk- plus -emia gives leukemia. Lymph- plus -oma gives lymphoma. Myelo- plus -oma gives myeloma.
Every name here also carries an adjective in front of it that does the real identifying work. The adjective names the cell the cancer came from, whether it grows quickly or slowly, and where the cells turned up. That is why acute myeloid leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia share most of their name and are different diseases.
How to use these names with a doctor
These terms are useful for one thing above all: knowing what to ask. Someone told they have a blood cancer can arrive at an appointment with a real question instead of a blank look.
Bring the exact term written down. Not blood cancer. The full name, including acute or chronic, lymphoblastic or myeloid, and the subtype if there is one.
Ask what the term means in plain language. A question as simple as which cells are affected, and where the disease was found, settles most of the confusion.
Know that the boundaries blur. The same cell in the blood and in a lymph node gives two names for one disease. A report using either one may not be describing two separate problems.
Use the names for research, not for self-assessment. These terms are far more detailed than anything a general article should match against how someone feels. They are vocabulary, not a checklist.
Let a doctor draw the line. Deciding which disease someone has requires an examination and tests on their blood and bone marrow. Nothing in a naming guide can substitute for that.
Questions people ask
Is blood cancer one disease or many?
Many. The American Cancer Society describes blood cancers as cancers in which different types of blood cells start to grow out of control. Some grow quickly, others develop more slowly. Blood cancer is the family name, not the diagnosis.
What is the most common name for blood cancer?
There is no single one, because the phrase covers several diseases. Leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma are the three main names, and the National Cancer Institute groups the plasma cell cancers alongside them.
Is leukemia the same as lymphoma?
No, but the two categories overlap. The difference is where the cancerous cells turned up. Cancer of lymphocytes found in the blood is called leukemia. The same kind of cancer found in lymph nodes is called lymphoma.
What does hematologic mean?
Having to do with blood or blood-forming tissue. Hematologic cancer and blood cancer are two names for the same group, used interchangeably by the National Cancer Institute.
What is the difference between acute and chronic?
Pace. An acute leukemia is a rapidly progressing cancer. A chronic leukemia is a slowly progressing one. Both start in blood-forming tissue and produce large numbers of white blood cells, so the words describe speed and nothing else.
What is multiple myeloma?
A cancer that begins in plasma cells and forms tumors in many bones of the body. The word multiple refers to there being more than one tumor. A single tumor is called a plasmacytoma.
Can a blood test tell you which one it is?
A blood test is one part of it. Deciding which disease is present takes an examination, blood work, and further testing that only a doctor orders and interprets.
Is blood cancer curable?
This is a question for a doctor, and this article does not answer it. Answers depend on the specific disease, and anyone who needs one should ask a clinician who knows the case.
What to take away
Blood cancer is a category, not a diagnosis. The names inside it are leukemia for cancers starting in blood-forming tissue, lymphoma for cancers starting in the immune system, and myeloma for cancers starting in plasma cells. Each covers several diseases.
Two habits make the names readable. The first is that the adjective does the work. Acute or chronic tells you the pace, and lymphoblastic or myeloid tells you the cell. The second is that one disease can carry two names, because the same cells in the blood and in a lymph node produce different words.
None of this identifies anyone’s illness. Only a doctor can say what, if anything, they have. For anyone with a real diagnosis, the next step is to write down the exact name and bring it to that conversation.