subject: Blood Cancer And Treatment [print this page] Blood is a part of the bodyBlood is a part of the body. Blood has different components sch as red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. The red blood cells (RBC), platelets also called monocytes because it is belong to the "myeloid" group and other white blood cells belong to the "lymphoid" group. Lymphoid cells are affected. Disease progresses quickly. This is most common among children. Blood cancer or Leukemia is actually a group of diseases, each of which impede with the normal functioning of blood cells and progressively weaken the system. Leukemia is classified as either Acute or Chronic.
All kinds of various acute or chronic diseases of leukemia are dangerous. Acute leukemia being a swiftly succeeding disease affects typically cells that are embryonic or primitive (which means the cells that have not yet fully developed or differentiated from the others). These not fully formed cells thus cannot achieve their standard utility. These cells are described as "nonfunctional" because they do not work like normal cells. They also number out the usual normal healthy cells in the marrow, resulting in a decrease in the number of new healthy normal cells made in the marrow.
The leukemia is categorized in to four basic categories which are as follows:
Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML)
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL)
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
For acute leukemia following are the signs and symptoms of leukemia:
Fatigue or tiredness
Shortness of breath during physical activity
Sluggish curing of cuts and excess bleeding
Mild fever or night sweats
Black-and-blue spots (bruises) for no evident cause
Pinhead-size red spots under the skin
Pale skin
Low white cell counts
Aches in bones or joints
Treatment
In radio immunotherapy, an immunotoxin--a hybrid molecule formed by coupling an antibody molecule to a toxin--is injected into the patient. The antibody locks onto a signature protein the cancerous cells express and delivers the toxic dose to the cancer cells. Because the treatment is precision-guided, adverse effects to the rest of the body are minimized. Preliminary results with the new drug are extremely promising--completely eradicating the human cancer cells grafted to mice.
Your doctor may prescribe medications, sometimes called "growth factors," that encourage your body to produce more blood cells. Medications are also used to prevent low blood cell counts in people who have a high probability of experiencing complications of cancer treatment. A stem cell transplant is the infusion of healthy stem cells into your body. If all goes well, these healthy stem cells take hold in your body and begin normal production of blood cells.Treatment becomes less complex if the disorder is diagnosed at an early stage.
