Leukemia is the Cancer of the blood, it is common but not as common as breast cancer and prostrate cancer. Leukemia forms blood tissues and hinders the body’s ability to fight Infection.
The human blood contains the white blood cells which fights Infection, Red blood cell which carry oxygen to the blood and the platelets that help in blood clotting.
Leukemia is caused by a rise in the number of the white blood cells in the body.
Regularly, billions of new blood cells is provided in the bone marrow and most of them are red blood cells, but when white blood cells is more in the body, it leads to leukemia.
Leukemia is grouped into two based on how fast it develops.
- Acute leukemia – here, the abnormal blood cell do not mature and cannot carry out Normal function and can get bad very fast.
- Chronic Leukemia: They are immature cells but can work the way they should but gets bad slowly.
Symptoms of leukemia are:
- Fatigue
- Easy bleeding
- Fever
- Pains in bones or joints
- Headache
- Vomiting
- Severe Infections
- Shortness of breath
- Weight loss
- Seizures
There are other diseases that have some of the symptoms listed above, always visit the hospital in order to be sure of your state of health.
Ways it can be diagnosed include;
- Blood test
- Bone marrow biopsy- test involves narrow taken from your pelvic bone with a long needle.
- Imaging test- Scans that spot Leukemia
- Spinal tap- this is done from the spinal cord.
Treatment of Leukemia
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
- Biologic therapy
- Stem cell transplant
- Surgery
Chemotherapy
It uses drugs to kill cancer cells in the blood and bone marrow.
It is taken:
- As a pill
- Through a shot into a vein or muscle
- Into the fluid around your spinal cord
Radiation
It uses high energy X-RAY; to kill leukemia cells or prevent them from growing.
Biologic therapy
Helps the immune system find and attack cancer cells. Drugs like interleukin and interferon aid in biologic therapy.
Stem cell transplant
It replaces the leukemia cells in your bone marrow with new one. Stem cells can be gotten from your own body ( autologous transplant) or from a donor ( allologus transplant).
Surgery
Your spleen can be removed if it is filled with cancer cells. This procedure is called a splenectomy.
