Lymphocytic leukemia is a malignant blood disease that is characterized by the accumulation of pathological lymphocytes. A synonym for this disease is lymphocytic leukemia.
Lymphocytic leukemia - symptoms
In the initial stages of the disease, when the patient is only found to have lymphocytic leukemia, the symptoms are quite common. At the first manifestations of this disease, patients experience weakness in the body and malaise, while the appetite of the patients decreases sharply, and the body temperature rises sharply, without seemingly objective reasons. In addition, a disease such as lymphocytic leukemia, symptoms of pale skin integument accompany, due to the development of anemia, as well as general intoxication of the body.
Leukemia is often accompanied by pain in the spine and limbs. Also, in almost all cases, patients have enlarged lymph nodes. Due to the location of lesions of this disease in the central nervous system, patients can also develop neuroleukemia. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to do a CT scan or an MRI scan of the brain in a timely manner.
Symptoms of chronic lymphoid leukemia are considered - general weakness, heaviness in the abdomen, especially near the left hypochondrium, as well as excessive sweating. The severity in the stomach is explained quite simply - it is associated with an enlarged spleen, a cemetery of blood cells. Lymph nodes begin to grow much more rapidly than during the acute form of the disease.
Stage of chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- The defeat of no more than 2 groups or large lymph nodes, or the complete absence of this lesion. The patient has no thrombocytopenia and anemia.
- The defeat of large groups and accumulations of lymph nodes. Thrombocytopenia and anemia are still absent in the patient.
- The presence of thrombocytopenia and anemia.
Lymphocytic leukemia - diagnosis
All diagnostics begin with an analysis of peripheral blood, after which, in 98% of cases, the presence of blasts, as well as mature cells, is detected, without an intermediate stage. If the disease is in the acute phase, then the test results will show thrombocytopenia and normochromic anemia.
An accurate diagnosis can only be made after examination of the red bone marrow, paying attention to the histological, cytogenetic and cytochemical component of the blasts.
Lymphocytic leukemia - treatment
If the patient has acute lymphocytic leukemia, the symptoms of the disease are not the most frightening, then the disease can be completely cured. When using chemotherapy for the treatment of acute forms, it is important to select drugs with a wide spectrum of action. It is also necessary to clearly choose the dosage of the drug, and accuracy is very important, because if the dose of the drug is less than necessary, the disease can easily recur and even go to the chronic stage, and if the dose is too large, undesirable complications of this disease will appear.
Treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, unlike acute, is not carried out in the early stages of the disease, this is due to the fact that, according to doctors, at the initial stage the disease has a “smoldering” course. In this regard, people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia live long enough without first using any drugs. Treatment begins only after the onset of the first symptoms.
It should be started if the number of lymphocytes in the patient’s blood rapidly increases, many lymph nodes grow throughout the body, and the spleen noticeably increases in size.
The treatment of this disease is carried out with chemotherapy courses, the strength of which and its effectiveness depend on the course of the disease. In some cases, removal of the spleen is possible.
You must carefully monitor your health and regularly visit a doctor.