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Leukemia Treatment

Leukemia treatment

Blood cancer

Leukemia is a blood condition that belongs to a genre of tumors. This condition is known to affect the bone marrow as well as blood cells. There are approaches available to treat leukemia; common among them are a combination of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, etc. In some instances, your medical team may recommend a transplantation of the marrow.

There are also instances wherein your caregiving team mya decide to watch how the blood condition advances. Success of treatment depends on several factors such as your age, stage at which your blood condition is, other medical conditions or ailments – if any. The survival rate for 5 years – chiefly in the US – hovers beyond 65%. In case of younger patients also, rates of survival for more than 5 years have climbed up. As per latest estimates, these rates have exceeded 68%.

Blood cancer symptoms

Blood cancer may show up via several signs and symptoms. No two (2) forms of blood cancers may exhibit similar types of signs. Further, these signs may also not occur in all cases. In several instances, you may get to see a single symptom. Regardless of the signs and symptoms, if you feel discomforts or a feeling of malaise, you are advised to speak to a qualified doctor without much delay.

Most commonly experienced symptoms of blood cancers are: tiredness during most parts of the day, bruises or internal bleeds, inability to arrest episodes of bleeds, being more prone to infections and taking a longer time to get well.

Blood cancer symptoms may also include fever or frequent conditions of rise in body temperatures, decrease in weight  – without any specific reason, swelling of lymph-nodes; breathing conditions such as wheezing or inability to take deep breaths, etc.

A few other likely symptoms of blood cancers are – reduced rates of metabolism, drop in appetite or a feeling of fullness, acute spells of headache, etc. Blood cancers can also trigger anemia; this is a blood condition caused by an inadequate count of red blood cells. How to know if you are anemic? You are likely to witness a few signs like weakness, dizziness, paling of skin, painful bones – especially large-sized bones, etc.

Blood cancers can also make clotting of your blood a difficult thing. Blood cells that work as a catalyst to clot your blood are known as platelets. If your platelets are not performing quite well, you may get to see reddish patches or blotches on skin. This is a clear indication of a bleed under your epidermis. Not stopping with such bleeds, you may also witness blood in feces; your stools may become dark; all these are due to a gut injury or a bleeding condition deep within.

Among women, blood outgo – especially during periods – may become worse. In some people, they may feel problems in moving their bodies; this is chiefly caused by a bleed inside the cerebral system. If you observe excessive sweats while sleeping; you may get drenched with sweat – this is one of the typical signs of cancerous conditions.

Blood cancers like leukemia  can also lead to enlargement of spleen and / or liver. Tell your doctor if you are experiencing an inflammation of stomach. Pains at the bottom part of the ribcage may occur –pain is seen more on the left than on the right side. Such people may get a feeling of fullness with even a smaller amount of food. These are due to spleen or liver-related conditions.

Blood cancer causes

Causes of blood cancers are genetic as well as environmental. Also, those who smoke a lot, being exposed to a few types of chemicals, etc., also fare as likely causes. When the growth of cancers is gradual or slow, physicians are unlikely to commence treatment or medication plans. In most cases, caregiving teams may wait to see how the autoimmune condition behaves.

Myeloma, lymphoma as well as leukemia are commonly forming blood-related cancerous conditions. Such autoimmune conditions may occur due to mutations or cellular-level alterations showing up in the DNA of cells. Blood cancers may occur when blood cells’ DNA undergo a mutation. One may get it at any time of their life.

Some forms of cancers of the blood occur among younger people – individuals as young as 4 – 5 years. The symptoms of such cancers (in blood) are not common between children and grown-ups. In both cases, needful treatment is offered after ascertaining the way the tumor grows or progresses. In general, those diagnosed of blood cancers are advised to seek a prognosis from caregivers

Types of leukemia

Leukemia-based cells are of different types. Based on the kind of blood cells affected, leukemia is classified as developing on lymphocytes or on myeloid-cells. Of these 2 types of leukemia, lymphocytes are cells which mirror white cells in the blood. On the other hand, myeloid-cells are younger as well as immature. It is such cells that may become red cells, white cells and platelets in the bloodstream.

Leukemia is further classified based on how the autoimmune condition grows; based on the cells’ rate of growth, blood cancers are categorised either as acute or chronic spells of leukemia. Out of these 2 types – chronic form of blood cancers is known to multiply at a slower rate. If you fail to take treatment in a timely manner, it may soon turn into an irreversible and non-treatable condition. On the other hand, acute form of blood cancers – like leukemia – may grow at a much faster rate. In the event of untimely or no treatment, such conditions may be quite hard to cure.

There are also other ways to differentiate leukemia. These include acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Of all these four categories, acute myeloid leukemia is common among the elderly. On the contrary, conditions like acute lymphocytic leukemia are common among teens and kids

Leukemia treatment

Blood cancers like leukemia are treated by taking various pathways. Commonly adopted treatment pathways include chemotherapy and radiations. In some cases, stem cells treatment as well as targeted therapy are used. Chemotherapy is about administration of meds for the treatment of blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma. This pathway is labelled as a systemic pathway. This is mainly because of the drugs’ capability to treat tumors present in all parts of the human  body – as a whole.

Drugs used for treating blood cancers are of various types. These meds focus on extending the duration of life, or aim at offering treatment to cancers like leukemia. All drugs administered as part of chemotherapy route are authorised by the US-based, Federal med clearing body – the Food & Drug Administration.

Drugs administered through chemotherapy – for blood cancers – are readily absorbed by cells and tissues of cancer patients. It is this capability that makes such drugs find ways to reach most organs and muscles of human bodies. It is this property that makes chemotherapy different from other types of treatments. While radiation or surgical modalities are aimed at a particular site, chemo drugs can treat at a holistic level.

Leukemia cells are treated with drugs that work in phases. Each med works at various levels of efficacy; how one drug works depends on what stage the cancerous condition is in among several other factors like age, presence of other ailments, intake of other drugs or presence of other treatment plans, etc.

The flip side is: a few of your normal cells or tissues stand to get adversely impacted with the use of cancer meds. Your caregiving team plans treatment to decrease the damages or adverse effects on normal / unaffected cells. Emphasis is also laid on how to enhance damage afflicted onto cancer-causing cells in your system.

Patients taking chemo drugs are advised to understand about possible, adverse effects of such meds. Commonly encountered adverse effects include a severe drop in potency of immune system; as a result, you tend to get infected more often and may also bleed internally. Several people have also complained of nerve pains as well as muscular discomforts. Loss of hair is another common side effect of cancer treatment.

In general, treatment of leukemia or other forms of blood cancers involves taking more than one approach. For instance, treatment starts with chemotherapy and includes sittings of radiation treatment. In some cases, drugs for cancers are offered after a surgery; incisive surgeries are often done for the removal of tumors from your body. Treatment plans that involve radiations are also common before or after modalities like a surgery or use of chemo drugs.

October 31, 2024 Cancer , , , , , ,