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In the 18th century, Thomas Fowler created what became known as "Fowler's Solution," a combination of arsenic trioxide and potassium bicarbonate, which "became a standard remedy to leukaemia
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Leukemia was not officially diagnosed until 1845, when John Hughes Benett diagnosed it in Edinburgh (Greaves, 2000).
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Other European physicians in the 19th century observed that their patients had very high levels of white blood cells, and they called the disease “weisses blut,” meaning “white blood.”
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In 1865, a German physician named Dr Jack Lissauer used Fowler's solution to treat chronic myelocytic leukemia
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In the early 20th century, leukaemia was considered an incurable, chronic disease. Around 1900, after the discovery of radiation, studies showed that x-rays could reduce the size of tumors.
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In 1913, four types of leukemia were classified: chronic lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and erythroleukemia.
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In the 1920s, Hermann Muller recognized that ionizing radiation could cause mutations in DNA that contributed to cancer.
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In the 1940s there were new treatments, such as aminopterin, first used by Sidney Farber of Boston to treat acute childhood leukemia.
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In 1970, it was first confirmed that some patients could be cured of leukemia,
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In the 1970s in China, arsenic was revived as a treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia.
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By the 1980s and 1990s the cure rates for leukemia were around 70%.
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There has been an increase of childhood leukaemia in modern times these may be lifestyle-related.
