Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a rare type of cancer, affecting approximately 400 adults every year in the UK.

ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells. Normally, white blood cells grow and divide in an orderly and controlled way.

In leukaemia, this process gets out of control as the normal signals that stop the body making too many cells are ignored. This means the cells go on dividing and do not mature.

In ALL, there is an overproduction of immature lymphocytes, called lymphoblasts (sometimes referred to as blast cells).

These immature cells fill up the bone marrow and stop it from making new blood cells properly. As the lymphoblasts do not mature, they can’t do the work of normal white blood cells (fight infection). And because the bone marrow is overcrowded with immature white cells, it can’t make enough healthy red cells and platelets.

ALL occurs most frequently in children under 15. In adults, it is most common between the ages of 15-25 and in people over 75. It’s slightly more common in males than in females.

Symptoms of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

The main symptoms of ALL are caused by having too many blast cells in the bone marrow and too few normal blood cells in your blood.

Symptoms may include:

Looking very pale, feeling very tired or becoming breathless easily, caused by a lack of red blood cells (anaemia).
Feeling generally unwell and run-down, perhaps with a sore throat or mouth.
Aching joints and bones.
Having various infections one after the other, caused by a lack of healthy white blood cells.
Unusual bleeding, because of too few platelets. This may include bruising without any obvious cause, heavy periods in women, bleeding gums and frequent nosebleeds.

*Information provided by Macmillan cancer support

At Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we patients with both T ALL and B ALL

We look after patients not only from Newcastle but also the wider region.

The ALL clinic is on Monday afternoons in NCCC Outpatients located on level 2.

When you attend the clinic or day unit, you will have blood tests done prior to seeing the Doctor or Nurse Specialist.

Patients 25 years and younger will be offered support from the Teenage and Young adult service.

In addition, we use the Haematology day unit (ward 36) for procedure such as bone marrow biopsy and Ambulatory unit for transfusions and chemotherapy administration/ IV infusions.

If patients require a hospital admission, they will be on the NCCC wards 33, 34 or 35.

The ALL team includes:

Dr Tobias Menne – Consultant Haematologist

Dr Michelle Lannon – Consultant Haematologist

Sarah Blakey – Leukaemia Nurse Specialist

Charlotte Ord – Leukaemia Nurse Specialist

Kathryn Rafferty – secretary

Contacting the team

If you are unwell please call the alert line on 0191 2139302

For any queries or for support outside of your clinic appointments, you can contact the nurse specialists direct on

01912139201 – Sarah Blakey

01912139285 – Charlotte Ord