Blood cancer in children, childhood leukemia, or bleeding is a serious and insidious disease that is difficult to recognize at the initial stage. The disease is characterized by a mutation in the cells of the hematopoietic system. The pathology does not have a specific location, the cells affected by the disease mix freely throughout the body, which leads to the formation of a large number of metastases. Positive results in treatment can be achieved only if the disease was diagnosed at an early stage and the correct therapy was immediately prescribed.
Types of Blood Cancer
The diagnosis of "blood cancer" in children or adults can be considered not entirely correct for the designation of oncology, which affected the circulatory system. There are several types of ailment:
- Leukemia, or leukemia. With this form, the neoplasm appears from white blood cells - bone marrow cells. The disease can be chronic or acute. Chronic leukemia is formed from already mature white blood cells and is characterized by a mild course. Acute pathology is formed from cells that have not yet matured and its course is very aggressive.
- Hematosarcomas or sarcomas. They are characterized by an aggressive course and are formed from lymph tissue.
Ordinary people under blood cancer in children and adults mean tumor ailments of the blood, lymphosarcoma or leukemia. Speaking in the language of doctors, it would be more correct to call the disease - hemoblastosis.
Causes
To name exactly what causes blood cancer in children, what causes and circumstances contribute to its development, so far none of the scientists can. The causes of blood oncology in childhood are various:
- genetic predisposition;
- taking a certain type of medication;
- aggressive effects of radiation;
- the accumulation of carcinogens in the body;
- consequences of environmental disasters.
As observations show, most often an illness develops in the body where several factors coincided at once. The process can start only one changed cell, which the immune system did not notice, and it got into the bloodstream. Newborn children with blood cancer die more often, because their disease develops rapidly, the immune system is still poorly developed and cannot fully fight the cells affected by the disease.
In children with allergies, the disease does not develop so often, but all because the immune system is always active and immediately begins to fight with altered cells. But even an allergy can not always protect a child from blood cancer, so it is better to conduct an examination regularly.
Features and clinical presentation
As already mentioned, for a disease to begin to develop in the body, just one mutated cell is enough, which the immune system could not recognize. She begins to quickly share, which is why the first signs of blood cancer in children appear early. It is noteworthy that the smaller the age of the child, the more rapidly the development of the disease passes through him.
The signs of the disease in children and adolescents are similar and manifest in the same way as in an adult. At the initial stage, the ailment is difficult to detect, but still there are some symptoms that should force parents to urgently lead their child for examination by a specialist:
- somatic manifestations include fatigue, drowsiness, or, conversely, insomnia;
- wounds and abscesses on the skin are too slow;
- blue circles are observed around the eyes, the skin turns pale;
- gums bleed, nosebleeds are often observed;
- the child often suffers from viral and infectious diseases.
All these are the first signs of blood cancer in a child, and if at least one of them is observed in a baby, then he urgently needs to be brought to a specialist and undergo a comprehensive examination to find out exactly what is the reason and begin urgent treatment.
Symptomatology
If the first signs were not pronounced and the parents could not recognize a serious disease in them, then at the next stage of the cancer more serious symptoms occur. They also can not always be tied to the development of leukemia. The clinical picture of the disease is characterized as follows:
- a slight increase in temperature, with no apparent reason;
- aching pain in the knees and elbow joint;
- increased fragility of bones;
- a complete lack of appetite, the child is not even attracted to his favorite treat;
- dizziness, frequent migraines;
- fainting conditions;
- loss of interest in the outside world, a constant feeling of fatigue.
In some children, blood cancer can occur in the form of enlarged lymph nodes of the liver and spleen, due to this, the stomach becomes larger, there is a pronounced bloating of the peritoneum. At a later stage, a rash is observed on the skin, and the oral mucosa bleeds. If damage to the lymph nodes occurred, then this symptom cannot be overlooked, because the nodes become dense, but not painful. With this symptom, they immediately seek help from a doctor and conduct an ultrasound scan of the desired areas.
Diagnostic measures
Blood cancer is a difficult to diagnose pathology, therefore, to make a diagnosis, you need a comprehensive approach that includes such measures:
- Have an examination with an oncologist who will familiarize yourself with complaints, as well as with a hematologist.
- the study of biological material will also help detect blood cancer in children. A blood test and biochemistry are the main diagnostic methods.
- The bone marrow is examined using sternal puncture or trepanobiopsy.
- Immunophenotyping helps determine the subspecies of the malignant tumor and allows you to choose the most effective treatment.
- Cytology allows you to identify specific damage to chromosomes, determines the degree of aggressiveness of cancer.
- Molecular genetic diagnosis reveals abnormalities at the molecular level.
- Additional studies make it possible to identify cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid.
The main task of all these examinations is to determine the nature of the neoplasm, the stage of its development, the degree of aggressiveness and establish the volume of bone marrow damage. Only after all the data has been received, is the individual treatment selected for each child, and the type of cancer is necessarily taken into account, each of which involves taking certain medications and taking comprehensive measures.
Stages of blood cancer
It will not be possible to choose an effective therapy if you do not establish the stage of blood cancer in children, the signs may not always indicate this disease, therefore it is important to go through all the recommended studies. Separation at the stage allows the oncologist to determine the size of the neoplasm, how much it struck the body, to detect the presence of metastases and the effect on tissues and organs. Cancer is divided into such stages:
- The first is characterized by malfunctions in the immune system, when mutated cells appear in the body, which differ in structure and appearance, and besides, they constantly divide. In this phase, cancer can be easily and quickly cured without serious consequences for the baby.
- The second is characterized by the fact that cells affected by the disease begin to cluster in groups and tumor clots form. But during this period, therapy can give good chances for a full life, because metastases have not yet been observed.
- The third is characterized by the fact that there are more cancer cells at times, they have already hit the lymphatic system and have begun to spread to other organs and systems, metastases appear in different places.
- The fourth most dangerous and unfavorable for the patient, because metastases are actively distributed in almost all organs. The effectiveness of chemotherapy is several times reduced, and all because tumors, and there are a lot of them, react differently to it. No one gives forecasts at this stage.
Blood Cancer Treatment in Children
For decades now, scientists around the world have been looking for a cure that could cure cancer in children and adults. But so far they have not been able to find such a drug, so the treatment is based on chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
Chemotherapy is one of the main treatment methods in which large quantities of toxic drugs are injected into the patient’s blood. Their main goal is to destroy all cancer cells. But this method has one significant drawback - the non-selectivity of the effect of drugs. After all, along with cancer-affected cells, healthy cells die too. First of all, tissues that are characterized by rapid growth suffer from the effects of chemotherapy:
- hair follicles;
- Bone marrow;
- digestive system cells.
At the same time, in children, as in adults, nausea, diarrhea are observed and hair begins to fall out. Along with these effects of chemotherapy, others also appear: loss of appetite, anemia and leukopenia.
After chemotherapy, children are often prescribed a blood transfusion, thus replenishing the lost number of red blood cells and platelets. As many experts have noted, such treatment brings children much more benefits than adults. Statistics say that seven out of ten children after chemotherapy survive and live a full life.
Surgical intervention
A bone marrow transplant operation is performed in rare cases, because it is not always possible to find the right donor. It should be noted that this operation cannot be called a transplant, and all because the procedure involves the administration of bone marrow concentrate from a healthy donor to a sick patient.
But before this procedure, a sick child is destroyed by all of its "native" cells that were infected with cancer, using the drug for chemotherapy. During this manipulation, both cancerous and healthy cells die. This method is used for children only if the degree of cancer is too aggressive and other methods have not given relief. Relatives most often become donors for the child.
During the operation and until the transplanted bone marrow begins to function, patients are too vulnerable to infections, therefore, at this time they are placed in a rehabilitation center.
How many patients with blood cancer live?
Even experienced specialists do not undertake to name the exact symptoms and causes of blood cancer in children. Indeed, it is impossible to find out why a healthy child gets sick from healthy parents. It is also impossible to name the obvious manifestations of this ailment, because until a certain time the disease can be asymptomatic. There can be many reasons, the main thing is to detect the disease in time and start therapy.
It is impossible to say exactly how long a child with blood cancer will live. After all, as practice shows, many people whom doctors have already refused treatment, referring to the fact that nothing will help them, still live after this years. Everything, of course, depends on at what stage the disease was detected and what treatment was chosen. Therefore, no one will give accurate forecasts.
Prevention
Due to the fact that the nature of cancer has not yet been fully studied, prevention of this pathology does not exist. You can reduce the risk of developing an ailment, if you reduce the influence of provoking factors:
- Stay away from radioactive places.
- The immunity of the child needs to be strengthened.
- Carry out hardening.
- Introduce more plant foods and no carcinogens into the diet.
- Encourage an active lifestyle.
- Regularly, at least once a year, undergo a comprehensive examination.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the photo presented in the article, blood cancer in children is a serious and insidious disease, it can be detected in anyone. That is why you should not close your eyes to the first signs that do not always indicate that it is cancer. Any symptom should be diagnosed, the only way to protect the baby from a serious illness. Parents need to surround their child with attention and provide him with the right lifestyle.