Leukemia is a whole group of cancers with uncontrollable cell growth and a different etiology. Blood cancer proceeds with the replacement of healthy cells with leukemia, and against this background, serious complications develop over time, such as severe bleeding, anemia, etc.
Leukemia: what is it?
In their healthy state, cells in the human body divide, mature, fulfill their basic functions and die. In place of dead cells are new. Cancer cells multiply uncontrollably.
Leukemia, as mentioned earlier, is cancer. In this case, bone marrow cells mutate. Patients with developing blood cancer face an excess of white blood cells (white blood cells). Unfortunately, the affected cells do not die over time, they constantly circulate throughout the body. This, of course, leads to an even greater spread of leukemia cells.
Scientists have noticed that it is in children under 5 years old that leukemia is most often detected . Symptoms in children are exactly the same as in adults. But the methods of treatment are different. Leukemia is not the most common type of oncology. According to some data, about 25-30 cases per 100,000 are recorded per year.
Leukemia: what is it and what are the causes of its occurrence?
A single answer to the question about the causes of leukemia can not give any doctor. So far, the following possible pathogens of healthy blood cell mutations have been identified:
- radiation radiation;
- carcinogens;
- heredity;
- viruses.
Leukemia: what is it and what are its symptoms?
The manifestation of symptoms directly depends on the characteristics and extent of infection with
cancer cells. Often, in the early stages, leukemia in adults and children occurs without any signs at all. But with the spread of the disease, patients have the following symptoms:
- a condition similar to influenza (temperature, diarrhea, red throat, vomiting);
- bone pain
- enlarged lymph nodes;
- the appearance of bruises on the skin;
- tachycardia and lethargy;
- stomach ache.
As you can see, the symptoms are varied, and they are often misleading to doctors. Often patients are treated not at all what is required.
Leukemia: what is it and how is it treated?
Treatment is prescribed by an oncologist, taking into account all the signs, such as the disease, stage of the lesion and the general health of the patient.
Note that acute leukemia requires an urgent start of treatment. Due to this, remission can be achieved. This is what the condition is called when the disease recedes. Why not "recovery"? The disease often returns again.
In the case of chronic leukemia, treatment rarely helps to achieve remission. But a certain kind of therapy is also applied to it.
The main modern methods of treatment include:
- chemotherapy
- stem cell transplant ;
- radiotherapy.
The treatment process is long and painful. Some patients have been waiting for remission for many months. Now leukemia is often amenable to effective treatment. The prognosis for each individual type of blood cancer is individual.