Home > Encyclopedia of Cancer > Richter's Syndrome

Definition

Richter's syndrome is a rare and aggressive type of acute adult leukemia that results from a transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia into diffuse large cell lymphoma.

Description

Leukemia is a group of cancers of the white blood cells. In adults, white blood cells are made in the bone marrow of the flat bones (skull, shoulder blades, ribs, hip bones). There are three main types of white blood cells: granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes. Richter's syndrome concerns only the lymphocytes.

Lymphocytic leukemia develops from...