Facts, Types, and Effects of Leukemia Essay

Each day, hundreds of people find themselves face to face with the word “cancer.” There is an estimate of 4600 new cancer diagnosis each day. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the united states, and is a major health concern worldwide. However, over the past 3 decades the survival rate for all cancers has climbed over 20%.

Leukemia is a cancer that affects the bone marrow. The bon marrow is the soft spongy center of the bone that produces blood cells. Leukemia is found in white blood cells or leukocytes. The white blood cells help to fight ff infections and other diseases. Normally, cells produce in an orderly way, but people that have leukemia the cell production gets out of control. The marrow produces too many immature white blood cells called blasts. They are differently shaped and can’t carry out their usual duties.

As acute myeloid leukemia grows in the bone marrow, it can become very painful. The doctors usually give mild pain killers at first. However, if that does not help the patient to be comfortable then a stronger opioid will be given. Sometimes doctors will prescribe medication or give blood transfusions to help with low blood counts and the fatigue a patient may be experiencing. Nausea and loss of appetite can be treated with medicines and high-calorie food supplements. Infections that occur can be treated with antibiotics. When everything else has failed, it is important to keep the patient as comfortable and happy as

For children 14 and under and also 19 and older, the cancer rate has increased .8 percent each year from 1992-2010. And, in the past 10 the death rate for children in these age groups has declined; for children under 14, it has declined 1.9 percent and it has declined 2.4 percent in those 19 and older. The most common type of cancer in children is leukemia (cancer in bone marrow and blood). On

A child that develop Leukemia produces a large amount of immature white blood cells called blasts (“KidsMD”). Usually when a person has healthy cells the body sends a signal out that there is not enough room for any more, however, when blasts are produced they do not respond to the signal that the body sends out. Therefore the blasts push out all the healthy cells in the bone marrow causing symptoms of Leukemia

When most people hear the word cancer they usually think of a tumor; a mass that is the source of the problem and can possibly be removed with surgery. This scenario however is not how it works with leukemia for the simple fact that leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells. Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer accounting for about thirty-one percent of all cancers in children. The cancerous leukemia cells made in the bone marrow grow so rapidly that eventually they spill out into the bloodstream.

However, patients that have chronic stage have an onset and more indolent clinical course which usually last two to six years. Survival rates of patients with chronic leukemia also increases due to diagnostics sensitives and if patient are diagnosed at earlier stages in their disease. In patients with acute leukemia, patients show a loss in normal bone marrow function and often experience thrombocytopenia. Usually there are various normal circulating white blood cells are diminished in number, resulting in neutropenia. In chronic leukemia the anemia is often mild when presented. Platelet count is normal and white blood cell counts are often elevated to very high (>50,000/uL)1. Speel live or lymph nodes have also been seen to show enlargement, however, they are more consistently seen in patients with chronic leukemias. Studies have suggested that the origins of leukemia appears at the genetic level , as most cases are to be related to mutation and altered expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Since most oncogenes regular proliferation and differentiation in a cell an abnormal oncogene or tumor suppressor gene induced by translocation results in unregulated cellular maturation.. Host and environmental factors have also been associated to leukemias however they are not entirely understood.

leukemia has almost 62,000 new cases per year and 24,500 deaths per year. Leukemia now makes up 3.7% of new cancer cases. The death rate for Leukemia is higher in elderly than in children and young adults. Leukemia is more common in men and the most common cancer is children because the statistics show that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) specifically, accounts for about 1 out of 3 cases of childhood cancer. As for most cancers not everyone had an identifiable risk factor but some of the risk factors for leukemia is exposure to radiation. Another is exposure to certain chemicals and cigarette smoking is also known to increase the risk from AML which is Acute Myeloid Leukemia. There can be certain genetic disorders like Down syndrome, Li-Fraumeni

Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow, a malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms.

The bone marrow has three type of blood cells. The first blood cell is the white blood cell. Normally white blood cells fight off infections, but with Leukemia they don’t fight your infections. The second blood cell, in the bone marrow is the red blood cell. The red blood cell carries oxygen for the body. With leukemia the blood cells multiply rapidly crowding the normal blood cells. And the

Cancer is a systemic disease that directly affects the region of onset and can metastasize to other sites, causing a variety of complications and loss of progressive organ function. The development of the disease may be initially slow or rapidly evolving, unavoidably affecting nutritional status (Santarpia et al., 2011). It is essentially a consequence of genetic mutations within a cell, which result in the proliferation of abnormal cells. Cancer represents a major global public health Problem. Worldwide, it accounts for 7.1 million deaths annually (12.6% of the global total); it is the leading cause of death in old age, with more than 70% of cancers occurring in those aged over 65 years (von Meyenfeldt, 2005). The World Health Organization

     Another option is Bone Marrow Transplantation. In many cases of acute leukemia and cml, doctors give high doses of chemotherapy and radiation, when indicated to destroy all of the patient’s bone marrow, since it is not functioning correctly. Then they give the patient healthy bone marrow from the donor, whose tissue it the same or almost the same as theirs; ideally an identical twin or a sibling. They also might give bone marrow that was removed from the patient earlier and especially treated to remove any leukemia cells. Patients who have a bone marrow transplant bone marrow begins to produce enough

The American Cancer Society defines cancer as a disease due to the widespread and uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body which if not treated may cause death.(Smith F.T. and Clark, R. 2011)

The cancer leukemia starts in the tissue that forms blood. It helps to know how normal blood cells are formed. Most blood develop from cells in the bone marrow called stem cells. The soft material in the center of most bones is called bone marrow. Many type of blood cells mature into stem cells. There are many different types of jobs for stem cells. The while blood cells are the ones that help fight the infection. There are many types of white blood cells in the body. Red blood cells are the cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. Platelets help form blood clots that control bleed in the body. Platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells are madr form stem cells are made when the body is in need of them. When cells get

More than half a million people are expected to die of cancer this year. That is more than one thousand and five hundred a day, an average of half men and one third women will develop cancer. (Google) These statistics should make individuals cringe at the fact that those numbers could silently be containing them, they just do not know it yet. Confidently, this essay should inform civilizations of the potential symptoms, as well as, the effects that this deadly disease has on societies family and friends. As well as, what we can do to try and prevent it from taking over more people than it already has.