What Is Blood Cancer?
Blood cancer can be of three types multiple myeloma, lymphoma and leukemia. Below, we have explained these three cancer types in brief:
Multiple myeloma: This term is used for cancer affecting our plasma cells, one of the white blood cell types found in bone marrow. The plasma cells are responsible for producing proteins known as antibodies that help us in combating infections. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer type marked by multiplication of cancerous plasma cells. As the primary function of the plasma cells is production of proteins; multiple myeloma might result in increase in abnormal protein levels in the patient's blood. This cancer type affects the patient's kidneys, immune system and bones significantly.
Lymphoma: Lymphoma is the medical term used for cancer affecting our immune system's lymphatic cells. Lymphomas can be of 4 types, B-cell lymphoma, T-cell lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Besides that, lymphomas are also considered to be members of a family of diseases known as the hematological neoplasms.
Leukemia: Leukemia can be defined as the cancer occurring in the blood-producing tissues of our system, which include our lymphatic system and bone marrow. Usually, leukemia begins from WBCs (white blood cells). Leukemia can be broadly categorized into acute leukemia and chronic leukemia. Most children diagnosed with leukemia become victims of acute form of the disease. Chronic leukemia can affect people of all age groups, but are more common among older individuals.
What are the symptoms of blood cancer? The common signs of blood cancer include:
- Pain in the abdomen, particularly around upper abdomen
- Easy bruising or bleeding
- Persistent fatigue
- Fever accompanied by chills
- Pain in joints and bones
- Frequent urination
- Frequent infections
- Increase in the size of glands like lymph nodes and spleen
- Enlarged liver
- Night sweats
- Sudden weight loss
- Stomach upset, vomiting and nausea
What are the risk factors of blood cancer? The most common blood cancer risk factor is weak immune system. The weakening of immune system might be due to intake of drugs that acts by suppressing functions of our immune system (such drugs are mostly used during organ transplants), high dosages of radiation (for instance radiotherapy received as treatment of another cancer), infections impairing immune system functions etc. Blood cancer can also occur on being exposed to benzene, a chemical found in petrol; benzene is also used in plastic and rubber industries. Other risk factors for blood cancer include Down syndrome, Schwachman-Diamond syndrome and Fanconi anemia.
Blood Transfusion Side Effects in Blood Cancer Patients
Often blood cancer patients need to undergo blood transfusion. Although blood transfusion is beneficial to them, it is not free from adverse effects. Below, we have discussed the possible side effects of blood transfusion affecting the blood cancer patients.
Fever: This one is the most common blood transfusion side effect. This adverse effect is caused mainly by the WBCs present in the transfusion. Fever after blood transfusion is generally accompanied by chills and shivering. This fever might appear during transfusion or within a few hours of undergoing the procedure. Medically this fever is termed as febrile reaction.
Acute hemolytic reactions: This side effect of blood transfusion is extremely rare, but is extremely serious in nature. A recipient develops these reactions when his blood [...]
Natural Remedies for Leukemia
A person diagnosed with leukemia should undergo the conventional medical treatments without any delay. There are certain natural remedies known for being effective in treating leukemia. These remedies can also be tried out, simultaneously with the conventional leukemia treatments. The natural remedies that are most commonly recommended to leukemia patients are:
Licorice root: Licorice is a plant widely grown in different parts of Europe, Asia and Mediterranean terrains. Several Chinese medicines include use of this herb. The root of Licorice possesses the ability of killing cancer cells and is also known for preventing mutations within the DNA. It is believed that the active ingredient of licorice roots i.e. licrocoumarone is responsible for anti-cancer effects of the herb.
Shark cartilage: [...]
Leukemia Lymphoma Society
LLS or Leukemia Lymphoma Society or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, was founded in the year 1949. It is the biggest voluntary health society of the world. Their main function is arranging funds for studies on blood cancer, blood cancer education and services offered to blood cancer patients. LLS operates with a mission of curing Hodgkin’s disease myeloma, lymphoma and leukemia and improving the quality of lives of blood cancer patients and their family members. The information and resource center of LLS was created for providing individuals diagnosed with blood cancer, health professionals taking care of them and their family members, current and accurate information about the disease and the right kind of support. The information specialists functioning at the IRC are all social workers, [...]
The Symptoms Indicating Occurrence of Leukemia in an Infant
An infant suffering from leukemia is likely to develop one or more of the following symptoms:
Swollen glands: Lymph glands of a healthy infant being a component of his endocrine system helps in filtering toxins from the bloodstream. When leukemia occurs, the patient’s white bloods cells might accumulate within his lymph glands resulting in swelling of the glands. It is a common leukemia sign in the infants. The swollen glands indicating occurrence of leukemia usually appear in body parts like armpits, groin or neck.
Bruising of skin: As the number of normal white blood cells starts decreasing in infants with leukemia the time required by their body to heal wounds might increase. Often you’ll find skin bruises in the infants suffering from leukemia.
Pale skin: The number of normal [...]
Coping Strategies for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia – Part II
Other Therapy Choices
In case TKIs are failing to show results and the person is not an entrant for stem cell transplant then several therapy choices entail:
Chemotherapy medications administered orally for killing irregular cells all through the body.
Biological therapies such as interferon for stimulating the person’s immune system for fighting cancer.
Novel investigative CML therapies that sufferers could register in during clinical trials.
Supervising CML Therapy
Typically, CML patients would essentially be seeing their physicians in a time interval of a couple of months for monitoring their therapy and checking for side-effects. Tests entail:
CBC, bone marrow tests for measuring platelet, WBC and RBC counts.
PCR test also known as Polymerase chain reaction testing [...]
Coping Strategies for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia – Part I
Chronic myeloid leukemia also known as CML or chronic myelogenous leukemia is an atypical cancer form affecting the bone marrow which is the blood cell manufacturing warehouse. CML results in irregular WBCs (white blood cells) being produced that are incapable of fighting infections along with regular WBCs.
When they start accruing in the bone marrow & blood, the irregular cells swarm out the platelet, RBC and WBC counts.
Philadelphia Chromosome
Philadephia chromosome is an irregular chromosome present in the bodies of CML patients. Chromosomes are gene carriers that instruct the cells about their tasks.
The fragments of chromosome number 9 as well as 22 rip apart and swap positions. The altered chromosome 22 is known as the Philadelphia chromosome and is the carrier of a novel [...]
Save Lives of Leukemia Patients – How to Become a Living Donor
Ever since news broke out about the child prodigy of ‘The Lion King’ on Broadway, the eleven-year-old Shannon Tavarez requiring a transplant for combating AML (acute myeloid leukemia), over three thousand eager helpers have enrolled to become bone marrow donors.
In case one is mulling over enrolling – the procedure is quite uncomplicated, however needs serious pledge. Bone marrow donation is moderately pain-free, converse to what is widely believed. And in case the transplant is successful, the outcomes are astounding.
A miniscule quantity of bone marrow donation – around five percent of the donor’s entire number – could not just refill disease-ridden supply of leukemia patients but the contributed cells additionally are capable of seeking out and obliterating any remnant [...]
Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplant – A Feasible Leukemia Treatment Choice
Adult leukemia cases are faring reasonably well following stem cell transplant used from cord blood banking as they did when taken from ably-suited grown-up donor types, according to study investigators from United States.
The study authors claim that umbilical cord blood transplant procedure is a workable alternative in adult leukemia cases with urgent requirement for bone marrow transplantation to reinstate cells obliterated as a result of chemo or radiation therapies, however often failing to locate a donor.
Helming the study, Dr. Mary Eapen from the Medical College of Wisconsin explicates how their study finding pointed towards outlook of leukemia free existence being analogous irrespective of whether transplant was done from an umbilical cord blood unit or adult donors.
During [...]
Comprehensive Overview about Myelodysplastic Syndrome
Myelodysplastic Syndrome or MDS or pre-leukemia is the name of an assemblage of disorders that develops due to damage to the blood-producing cells in the bone marrow leading to low counts in a single or more blood cell forms.
Normal bone marrow
Bone marrow is the soft-textured, internal component of several bones like those present in the cranium, clavicles, rib area, pelvis and back-bones. The stem cells present in the bone marrow after undergoing division form new-fangled cells. A number of such cells continue to be stem cells whereas there are those which modify into one of the three forms of blood cells, namely: RBC (red blood cells), WBC (white blood cells) or platelets.
The RBCs are responsible for carrying oxygenated blood to all over the body from the lungs and carrying away carbon-dioxide. [...]
Fascinating Breakthrough in Leukemia treatment
Investigators from Canada have made a denudation of an earlier concealed path to combat leukemia and other cancerous cells. The discovery could make a positive transformation in the manner in which leukemia treatment is carried out. This novel gateway could even benefit patients with other forms of cancers.
Dr. Dindial Ramotar, a scientist at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and lead author of the study explained the uncovering of a novel gateway that is present in human-beings which permits cancer-combatant agent like Bleomycin in entering the system so that reaching and attacking the leukemia cells was possible.
Dr. Ramotar, prof. at esteemed Université de Montréal started conducting tests on his conjecture nearly ten years back employing baker’s yeast that has astonishing similarity [...]
Different Blood Cancer Types You Should Know About
For each kind of cancer there are often multiple types of that cancer. Blood cancer is no exception. There are several blood cancer types that individuals can and often do develop.
Blood cancer is a serious blood disease that generally affects the blood or bone marrow. Bone marrow is where blood starts because that is where blood cells are made. This is why most blood cancers also affect, either directly or indirectly, the bone marrow.
There are a variety of different types of these cancers based on what types of cells are affected and how quickly the disease progresses. Leukemia, which is one of the types of blood cancer, has several different types in itself.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
This is a blood cancer that develops quickly from cells in the bone marrow. Of the many symptoms [...]
What Types of Blood Cancer Treatments Are Available?
Although there are several types of blood cancer and many symptoms that are caused by each type, many blood cancer treatments are similar. The first thing to know in determining which treatment is best is knowing which type of blood cancer you have because each treatment is based on the type of cancer and how severe your particular case is.
The most common treatment for blood cancer includes chemotherapy and radiation. Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs known to kill or destroy cancer cells. These drugs are generally administered through IV or intravenously or through intramuscular injections. This type of treatment is often referred to as systemic treatment because when the drug gains entry to the blood it travels through the individual’s body destroying any cancerous cells it may [...]
Common Blood Cancer Symptoms You Should Know
In order to know if you may be a victim of blood cancer it is important to know what the blood cancer symptoms are. Although there are various types of blood cancer there are some symptoms that are similar in each type. To be able to properly diagnose the specific type you may be afflicted with it is important to know which symptoms you are experiencing.
Some of the symptoms that may be experienced with all types of blood cancer include night sweats, weight loss that you can’t explain, numbness in your legs, fever without other signs of illness, swollen or tender lymph nodes, pain in the bones and joints especially in the areas of the back, head and ribs, unexplained bruising, elevated levels of calcium present in the blood caused by bones deteriorating, excessive or free bleeding and [...]
There Are Two Types of Blood Cancer Myeloma
There are two types of the blood cancer myeloma. These types consist of solitary myeloma also known as myeloma plasmacytoma and multiple myeloma.
Solitary myeloma is a form of blood cancer that develops in the white blood cells known as the plasma cells. These cells are produced in the bone marrow which is the spongy material found inside the bone. For this reason, the bone marrow is the area that is most directly affected by this disease. Most cases that involve these plasma cells growing beyond control result in tumors being formed and spreading throughout the bone marrow. When there is only one area in one location where the bone is destroyed it is diagnosed as solitary myeloma.
Multiple myeloma is formed pretty much the same way as solitary myeloma with the exception that when the [...]
Eight Prevalent Childhood Leukemia Symptoms
The widespread reason for cancer-related fatalities during infancy is leukemia, a cancer inflicting the tissues leading to blood cell irregularity, thus having damaging consequences on chromosomes/genes.
Leukemia has been observed to affect white or fair-skinned children to a greater extent as compared to dark-skinned children.
There are varying kinds of leukemia, however acute lymphoblastic leukemia (AML) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) are the two forms that prevalently affect infancy.
Ways of spotting whether one’s kid is having leukemia
Below explained are the 8 caveat indications of child leukemia that all must watch out for:
1. Susceptibility to antibiotic-resistant infections
Although child leukemia could lead to shooting fever and acute sickness, it has resistance to [...]
Deciphering Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
Acute myeloid leukemia or AML is form of cancer inflicting the white blood cells. AML could at times be known as acute myelogenous leukemia, acute myelocytic or acute non-lymphocytic leukemia. Disparate to chronic leukemia, acute leukemia has swifter development and usually need urgent treatment.
Though AML is known to affect individuals irrespective of age, however it is commonly noted among adults above sixty-five years of age.
AML is the outcome of disarray in the course which usually manufactures neutrophils (a form of white blood cell that fights bacterial infections). There is generally high regulation in the manufacture of mature neutrophils. For instance, the neutrophil production is raised when the body is infected and regularises in number following the infection being bought [...]
