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Blood Cancer


Blood cancer is a form of cancer which attacks the blood, bone marrow, or lymphatic system. There are three kinds of blood cancer: leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. These malignancies have varying prognoses, depending on the patient and the specifics of the condition, but overall survival rates with blood cancer increased radically in the late 20th century with the development of advanced treatments. When caught early, blood cancer can be very manageable in some cases, which is one very good reason to make regular trips to the doctor a priority for people of all ages.


Symptoms

Blood cancer is a generalized term for malignancy which attacks the blood, bone marrow, or lymphatic system. There are three kinds of blood cancer: leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

Leukemia is malignancy of cells in the blood. Lymphoma refers to malignant tumors of the lymph system. Myeloma is malignancy of plasma cells. Plasma cells are the cells in bone marrow that produce antibodies. Collectively they are called Hematological malignancies.

Some of the common blood cancer symptoms:

• Weakness, Fatigue, Malaise and Breathlessness
• Minimal body strain results inbone fractures
• Excessive or easy bruising
• Bleeding gums or frequent nose bleeds
• Recurrent infections or fever
• Excessive sweating of body during night
• Weight loss
• Frequent vomiting sensations
• Anorexia
• Lymph node (gland) enlargement
• Lumps or abdominal distension due to enlarged abdominal organs
• Abdominal pain, Bone pain and Back pain
• Delirium and confusion
• Abnormal bleeding in gums nose and cuts, which will result in platelet reduction
• Headaches with occurrence of visual difficulties
• Occurrence of fine rashes on dark spots
• Decreased urination and difficulty while urinating

Some of the specific leukemia blood cancer symptoms are anemia, recurrent infections, bone and joint pain, abdominal distress and difficult in breathing or dyspnea.

In case of lymphomas blood cancer the symptoms depend on location of cancer, where it has spread, and the size of the tumor. It begins with swelling in the neck, underarm, or groin.

The first sign of multiple myeloma is bone pain due to bony destruction by plasma cells. Some of the prominent symptoms include bleeding gums, nose bleeds and easy bruising. Unexplained bone fractures, kidney failure, persistent infections and weight loss are other signs of the disease.

Incidences of Blood Cancer Types Each Year:

S.No.	Blood Cancer Type	Percentage Per One Lac of Population
1.	Leukemia	12.2
2.	Myeloma	5.6
3.	Lymphoma	2.8

Latest Statistical Facts about Blood Cancer in United States:

• Symptoms of blood cancer are confirmed using the Diagnostic test – Biopsy.
• After every 4 minutes, an individual from America is diagnosed with blood cancer by such tests.
• Every 10 minutes, this disease takes the life of an individual.
• It means 146 people die every day because of this disease.
• Approximately 1,39,860 people are going to be diagnosed with all the three types of blood cancer in the year 2009.
• These people constitute 9.5% of the total number of new cancer cases ( 1,479, 350 ) diagnosed in the whole country.
• 53,240 people out of the 1,39,860 diagnosed, are estimated to lose their lives this year owing to this dreadful disease.
• The total cancer deaths estimated in the year 2009 are 5,62,340.
• Blood cancer deaths will comprise 9.5% of these deaths.
• Leukemia is the most common type of blood cancer in children affecting the age group of 0-19 years.
• It comprises 31% of cancers affecting the children in United States.
• 2,655 children within the mentioned age group, are estimated to be diagnosed with this disease in 2009.
• The symptoms of blood cancer remain latent and dangerously make the disease apparent in its last stages.

Does Cancer cause Blood Clots ?
Research studies conducted at the University of L’Aquila, Italy suggest that children suffering from Leukemia are at high risks of facing Thrombosis while they are provided the cancer treatment. Thrombosis is the technical name given to clotting of blood in the deep veins of the body. In the research, 1,752 children suffering from this dreadful disease were considered. In 5.2% of these children, the study found the complication of blood clotting. The researchers however were successful in finding out the therapies and medical procedures for addressing the risk of blood clotting.

Treatment

Blood cancer is a type of cancer ailment which either affects the blood or the bone marrow (spongy central section of bones). It involves abnormal production of blood cells. 90 percent of the diagnosed cases are in the adults while the rest of the 10 percent cases are reported in children.

Blood cancer treatment is based upon the types and sub-types of the ailment. There are primarily four types of blood cancer with their respective sub-types. This article tries to understand the available treatment options for this dreadful disease and their aims.

Treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL):

The term acute implies that the disease turns fatal in a short period of time. Lymphoblastic refers to immature blood cells being produced abnormally in the bone marrow. Death is caused when normal cells are completely replaced by the rogue cells.

Early diagnosis of the symptoms is imperative for ensuring favourable results of treatment. It is aimed at causing absence of the detectable malignant cells from the body for long duration of time.

Chemotherapy, usage of prescribed steroids, radiation therapy, intensive combined treatments like stem cell or bone marrow transplants and growth factors are some of the techniques available to treat ALL.

In the United States, the incidence of ALL is roughly 6000 new cases per year (until 2009). It is the most common form of blood cancer in children with as many as 70 percent cases of blood cancer cases diagnosed in them falling under this group. Age of the patient, sub-type of ALL affected with and the extent of care received by the patient are some of the vital factors affecting the treatment.

Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL):

The term chronic refers to the fact that the symptoms takes months or even years to develop and become apparent. CLL is a disease mostly affecting adults over the age of 50 years and predominantly in men. Unfortunately, it is considered incurable. The aim of the treatment is focused on controlling the progression of the disease by curbing its symptoms.

However, early diagnosis of symptoms does not improve the survival time. That is why, the disease is rather monitored for any observable changes in pattern. The decision to treat this disease is taken when it is confirmed that the quality of life of the patient is at stake.

It is difficult to decide when to start the treatment. The National Cancer Institute Working Group guidelines for treatment are followed by the doctors along with meeting of certain specific markers before it is initiated. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, bone marrow transplantation and biological therapy are the available treatment options for CLL.

Treatment for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML):

Several anti-cancer drugs are effective in treating this cancer type. However, age of the patient and the sub-type of AML are crucial factors which decide the choice of treatment. Chemotherapy technique ensures five year survival rate from AML by 40 percent. Some doctors apply a combination therapy involving the usage of anti-cancer drugs and making the patient under go chemotherapy simultaneously. This technique is found to be effective in causing absence of signs of AML early.

Controlling the destruction in the bone marrow, spreading of the disease to the entire body and protecting the central nervous system damage even before it is involved are the aims of the treatment. The disease affects men and women equally with 1.2 percent of its death rate in the United States.

Treatment for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML):

There are many treatment options available for this cancer affecting the adults mainly. However, the anti-cancer drug Imatinib is prescribed in most of the cases. This single drug is found to keep the signs of CML under check for five years. The drug has the added advantages of possessing relatively less number of side effects and the comfort of taking it orally at home.

Severe cases of this cancer can be treated by a combined technique of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and bone marrow transplantation. Though the approach offers close to permanent cure, 30 percent patients are found to die from the complications of the process involved.

Research on Blood Cancer Treatment through Mordern Medicine:

The research in this area can be divided into two types. They are either the clinical research or basic science research. The former focuses on understanding the ailment and coming out with ways which can be immediately applicable on the patients. The later, studies the disease process thoroughly and the results from such studies take time to come out but are usually the ground breaking ones.

Blood Cancer Treatment through Alternative Medicines and Complementary Therapies:

Of late, researchers and medical practitioners from the western world are increasing showing interest in the efficacy of the age old and traditional medical practices of the east. Some of the well-known and established fields on their own right in Eastern medicine are Ayurveda from India, traditional Chinese medicine and Unani Medicine.

There have been several claims made by these alternative techniques to address blood cancer. But lack of sufficient scientific evidences to support these claims have lead to the drought of credibility on these ancient medical practices.

In the United States, the American National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is the agency which studies the efficacy of these non-evidence based medicine therapies against blood cancer and other dreadful ailments.

Types of blood cancer

There are four types of blood cancer depending upon the course of the disease and the origin of the affected blood cells. The former criterion classifies the types into either acute or chronic. The later criterion further divides the types as lymphoblastic or lymphocytic leukemias and myeloid or myelogenous leukemias.

Blood primarily consists of red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC) and platelets. The red blood cells provide oxygen to the entire body. The white blood cells protect our body and platelets helps in clotting of the blood in the face of injury. Irrespective of the types of the disease, any abnormality in these cell types leads to blood cancer.

Based on these above mentioned criteria, the main categories of blood cancer are as follows:

• Acute  Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic Leukemias (ALL)
• Chronic Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic Leukemias (CLL)
• Acute  Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemias (AML)
• Chronic Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemias (CML)

What is Acute/Chronic Criterion of Blood Cancer/Leukemia?

Based on the progression of the disease and the treatment approach adopted, blood cancer is classified as either acute or chronic. The description is as follows:

Acute Cancer: The word acute refers to quick progression of this disease. It involves production of large number of immature blood cells in the bone marrow. Production of healthy blood cells as a result get hampered. This type of cancer is common among children and requires immediate commencement of treatment. It is because the abnormal cells can enter into the blood stream and spread the disease to fresh locations of the body making it incurable after a point.

Chronic Cancer: In the chronic form of the disease, there are large number of relatively mature but abnormal white blood cells produced. It takes months or even years for these abnormal cells to be produced at rate much higher than the normal blood cells. Treatment is commenced for this cancer after carefully studying the symptoms for a while. This ensures effectiveness of the healing technique adopted. Though any age group people can develop this form of cancer, it is mostly observed in elderly people.

What is Lymphoid/Myeloid Criterion of Blood Cancer/Leukemia?

The cells which make up the blood are produced in spongy central section of the bones called bone marrow. After their production, the blood cells enter into the liquid which surround the cells of the body called the lymph. The blood, bone marrow and the lymph are intimately connected to one another. Any ailment in one component certainly affects the other.

Depending upon the location where abnormal and malignant blood cancer cells originate, this ailment is further subdivided into either lymphoid or myeloid. The description is as follows:

Lymphoid Cancer: The liquid lymph is part of the lymphatic system. This system itself is a part of the natural protection system of the body, namely, the immune system. The lymphatic system mainly comprises of cells and tissues of an organ called the lymph node. It is a circular ball shaped structurepresent all over the body. The produced cells of this organ called the white blood cells protect our body from internal and foreign threats.

Swelling of the lymph node is the first symptom in a person suffering from any form of cancer. When white blood cells belonging to this system are affected, the cancer is lymphoid cancer.

Myeloid Cancer: As mentioned earlier, blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. The process is technically called Haematopoiesis. All these cells of blood are produced from single cell type called the stem cell. This cell has the special quality of getting converted into any other cell type in the body based on the requirement.

Nearly 10¹¹–10¹² new blood cells are produced every day inside a healthy adult’s body to maintain normal functioning. Any inconsistency in this production limit in the bone marrow leads to myeloid cancer. Mostly the red blood cells and the platelets get affected in this form of cancer.

Types of Blood Cancer:

What is Acute Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic Leukemias (ALL)?

The normal white blood cells are meant to protect our body. But when cancer turns them malignant and these cells are produced in very high rates, threat develops for the existence of normal cells. They are quickly outnumbered and disease spreads to fresh locations of the body from the lymph node, causing death of the patient.

It mostly affects young children between 2-5 years and elderly people above the age of 65 years. 85 percent children and 50 percent adults survive this cancer through treatment options like radiation and chemotherapy.

Sub-types of ALL:

• Precursor B acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• Acute biphenotypic leukemia
• Burkitt’s leukemia
• Precursor T acute lymphoblastic leukemia

What is Chronic Lymphocytic or Lymphoblastic Leukemias (CLL)?

Here, for reasons yet to be known, there is a slow rise in the production of the B cells. These cells primarily belong to the immune system and produce substances in the blood which protect us from disease causing organisms.

The cancer affects adults above the age of 55 years. Two-thirds of them are men. It is unfortunately incurable and the treatment options ensure five-year survival rate up to 75 percent. It is rare among young people and children are almost never affected by it.

Sub-type of CLL:

It has only one more aggressive sub-type, namely the B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia.

What is Acute Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemias (AML)?

Abnormal white blood cells abnormally grow in the bone marrow disrupting the production of normal blood cells. It is considered to a relatively rare disease. It is common in men than women. Children are hardly affected by it. The chemotherapy treatment ensures five-year survival rate up to 40 percent. It accounts for 1.2 percent of cancer related deaths in the United States. Cause of the disease is yet to be known.

Sub-types of AML:

• Acute promyelocytic leukemia
• Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia
• Acute myeloblastic leukemia

What is Chronic Myelogenous or Myeloid Leukemias (CML)?

Young abnormal white blood cells in the bone marrow are produced at an uncontrollable rate here before they enter into the blood stream. This cancer mainly affects adults and children are rarely affected by it. The five-year survival rate is 90 percent with anti-cancer drugs like imatinib.

Sub-type of CML:

There is only one subtype for CML namely the chronic monocytic leukemia.

Some Rare Types of Blood Cancer:

Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia: The liquid portion of the blood is called serum which contains all the blood cells types. In this rare form of blood cancer, the serum becomes thick. There is also an excess production of a protein called IgM in the blood leading to heart failure. Men above the age of 65 years are more at risk of developing this condition.

Hairy Cell Leukemia: It is makes up just two percent of all blood cancer types. It is incurable and 80 percent of the affected people are men. It is not reported yet in the young children. It is easily treatable if the symptoms are diagnosed early. The ten-years survival rate is as high as 96-100 percent.

T-cell-prolymphocytic Leukemia: Adults above the age of 30 years are primarily affected by it. Owing to its very aggressive nature it quickly affects organs like bone marrow, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, and skin.

Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia: It is a non-aggressive form of cancer. The auto-immune disorder rheumatoid arthritis is also diagnosed along with the symptoms of this rare blood cancer type.

Adult T-cell Leukemia: It is believed to be caused by a virus namely the Human T cell leukemia/lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The T-cells of the immune system get affected in this form of blood cancer. African-Americans living in the south-east are mostly found to be affected by this cancer, though it is rare in the entire United States.

What is Cancer?

Cancer refers to a class of diseases affecting the healthy cells with more than 100 known types. Based on the properties of the affected cells, there are two types of cancer. They are benign and malignant types.

The benign cells are limited to certain confinements in the body, do not invade or spread to new locations. On the contrary, malignant cancer cells are characterized by their nature of uncontrolled growth, intruding and destroying nearby cells and spreading to fresh locations of the body.

What are the Causes of Cancer?

Cells are the building blocks of life. They carry out all the functions in the body by following certain chemical instructions called genes. The cells have certain basic properties. One such fundamental property is cell replication, where a cell creates a copy of its own by a process called cell division.

Here, a parent cell passes on its genetic instructions to two new copies of it called the daughter cells. After cell division, the parent cell dies as a part of a programmed process technically called apoptosis.

Cancer is caused when changes in the genetic material takes place (technically called as mutation) while they are transferred from parent to the daughter cells during cell division. These changes or errors are unavoidable and happen inevitably.

The errors which are few in number grow exponentially as the daughter cells in the initial stage undergoing mutation turn parent cells themselves and pass on the erroneous genetic instructions to a new bunch of cells.

In this way, cancer is a gradual process and a progressive disease.  The minute errors accumulate over the time and there arrives a moment when a cell has completely erroneous set of instructions, thus behaving in a manner contrary to a normal healthy cell. In this way, a cancer cell is formed. Thus a cascade of error cells is the main cause of cancer.

Mutation can cause four types of errors leading to cancer. They are:

• Every cell has an inherent error-correcting system. When this system gets affected, errors self-amplify per cell division.
• Cells have a signalling system to communicate with each other. When mutation disrupts this system, erroneous signals are transferred between nearby cells.
• Cells grow at a particular rate. If mutation changes this pattern, then abnormal cell growth in one region can disrupt normal function of cells in remote regions too.
• Cells die their programmed death normally as per the apoptosis process. If mutation affects this process, a cancer cell can turn immortal and can become a constant and uncontrollable source of disrupting normal healthy cells forever.

Irrespective of its type, the cancer ailment can be cured if the symptoms are diagnosed early. Once the disease spreads to fresh locations (technically called as metastasis), it can only be treated to delay the unavoidable death.

resource : ygoy.com