Leukemia: Cancer of the Bone Marrow

Leukemia, known as cancer of the blood cells, is an abnormal rise in the number of white blood cells. These white blood cells crowd out other blood cells like the red blood cells and platelets.  Remember that the white blood cells fight infection, while the red blood cells carry oxygen and the platelets help blood to clot.

Leukemia is a term derived from the Greek words “leukos” and “heima”, meaning “white blood cells”.   Leukemia is the abnormal growing in numbers of the white blood cells in the bone marrow.  Thus, they are unable to fight infection the way which a normal white blood cell should do.  As these combines, they interfere with the functions of vital organs which also include the production of healthy blood cells.  And when the body does not have enough red blood cells that will supply oxygen, the enough platelets to ensure proper clotting and enough normal white blood cells to fight body infections, it will result to being anemic and vulnerable to bleeding and infection.

Leukemia is grouped by how quickly it develops (acute or chronic), or by the type of blood cell that is affected (lymphocytes or myelocytes).  Chronic leukemia means that the cells can still do the work of normal white blodd cells but the cancer is slowly growing.  While in acute leukemia, the cells can't do any of the work because the cells increases rapidly which means it worsens quickly.

• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common adult leukemia, affecting people over the age of 55.  
• Acute lymphocytic or lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) affects lymphoid cells and grows quickly. This is the most common type of leukemia among young children, but also occurs in adults.
• Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) usually grows slowly at first, and  mainly affects the adults.  There will be few or no symptoms for the first few months, but the leukemia cells grow quickly in a certain phase.
• Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is a common type of leukemia that occurs in both children and adults.  AML is the most common acute leukemia in adults.

Both chronic and acute leukemia include symptoms like the following:

• swollen lymph nodes that don't hurt
• frequent infections
• swelling or discomfort in the abdomen  (may be from a swollen spleen or liver)
• fevers or night sweats
• feeling weak or tired
• pain in the bones or joints
• bleeding and bruising easily
• weight loss or the loss of appetite with no known reason

Though these symptoms may appear, routine blood test will guarantee if one does have leukemia. Aside from blood test, there are also other test to be done for the doctor to verify the leukemia, and which type it would be. 

Other tests to be done may include:

• Physical exam - for swollen lymph nodes, spleen or liver.
• Biopsy - wherein the doctor will get a sample of your tissue to know if the leukemia cells are in your bone marrow already.  Bone marrow aspiration is when the doctor uses thick, hollow needle to get samples of bone marrow.  But when the doctor removes a small piece of bone and bone marrow, it is called bone marrow biopsy.
• Cytogenetics - This type of test looks at the choromosomes of cells from the samples of blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.  If abnormal cells are found, then the type of leukemia can be identified.
• Spinal tap -  It is the removing of the cerebrospinal fluid, which is found in and around the brain and spinal cord, to check for leukemia cells.
• Chest X-ray - Swollen lymph nodes or other signs of disease in the chest usually shows in an x-ray. 

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September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month