Blood cancer – Keep calm and fight on

Blood cancer occurs when there is an overproduction of abnormal functioning cells in the body. The mass production of abnormal cells suppresses the bone marrow in the production of healthy cells such as platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells.

 Types

• Leukemia: one of the blood cancer types, wherein there is an overproduction of white blood cells (WBC) that are not functioning properly, thus cannot fight infections.
  • Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL): rapidly produces immature and abnormal lymphocytes (lymphoblasts), which cannot fight off infection. It produces massively that they crowd out healthy white blood cells, making a person a higher risk for infections.
  • Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): a type of leukemia wherein there is an uncontrolled production of immature myeloid cells- myeloblasts. Myeloblasts do not mature into healthy functioning WBC, decreasing the body’s defenses against infections. As leukemia cells fill the bone marrow, the red blood cell and platelet production are hindered.
  • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL): the same with ALL that it starts to develop in lymphocytes but grows slowly, and blood cancer symptoms manifest after few years; the most common type of cancer in the blood in adults.
  • Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML): the same with AML, which begins to develops from myeloid cells but develops slowly; more common in men
• Lymphoma: is another blood cancer type that starts with lymphocytes, and abnormal lymphocytes turn to lymphoma cells that reproduce and accumulate in the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and other parts of the body. Then it impairs the body’s immunes system.
  • Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: starts in immune cells- B cells
  • Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: starts in B cells or T cells; the most common type of lymphoma
• Myeloma or Multiple Myeloma: one of the blood cancer types that develop from plasma cells, which are a type of WBC that produces antibodies. This spreads to the bone marrow, damages the bones, and healthy cells are outnumbered.

 Stages

How many stages of it? There are four stages of blood cancer, which are the following:

• Stage I: enlargement of lymph nodes
• Stage II: enlargement in one of these organs: spleen, liver, and lymph nodes.
• Stage III: anemia develops with the enlargement of 2 or more of these organs: spleen, liver, and lymph nodes.
• Stage IV: platelet levels drop swiftly, cancer cells affect the lungs along with the organs affected from the previous stages, presence of acute anemia

 Symptoms

• Skin rash
• Petechiae: tiny, circular, flat patches as a result of bleeding beneath the skin
• Painless swollen of lymph nodes in the neck, underarms, or groin
• Headaches
• Shortness of breath
• Coughing or chest pain
• Recurrent infections: low WBC count
• Night sweats
• Joint pain
• Abdominal pain
• Unexplained weight loss
• Fever and chills
• Persistent body weakness
• Loss of appetite or nausea
• Easily bruising: low platelet count

Causes

Why blood cancer occurs? There is no definite reason yet what are blood cancer causes, but scientists believed that it is formed due to genetic and environmental factors.

Here are some risk factors that make a person is a higher risk of developing cancer in the blood:

• Family history of cancer in the blood
• Previous chemotherapy and radiation treatment are at high risks of developing cancer in the blood
• Genetic disorders such as Down syndrome, Fanconi anemia, and Bloom syndrome
• Exposure to chemicals such as benzene that is used in chemical facilities, rubber industries, shoe manufacturing, and gasoline industries
• Radiation exposure
• Smoking

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Diagnosis

Several tests are performed for it diagnosis, which are:

• Physical Exam: the physician assesses for blood cancer signs such as pale skin, swollen lymph nodes, enlargement of the liver and spleen.
• Blood tests
  • Complete blood count (CBC): checks the levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets
  • Virology testing: to determine if a person has been infected with HIV, Hepatitis B, and C so appropriate treatment will be given alongside cancer treatment
  • Liver function tests: to monitor the status of the liver when undergoing chemotherapy
  • Peripheral blood Smear: to check the size and shape of the red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets
  • Urea and electrolytes: to check the functioning of the kidneys, if it has been invaded by cancer or any damaged by blood cancer treatment
• Bone Marrow Biopsy: small bone marrow is taken out to check for any abnormal cells
  • Aspirate: liquid bone marrow is taken for biopsy
  • Trephine: spongy bone marrow and some bone is taken out for biopsy
• Lymph Node Biopsy: a minor surgical procedure is performed to take a sample of the lymph node with cancer to determine the type of cancer

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 Treatment

Can it be treated? There are various blood cancer treatments that are used depending on the type of cancer in the blood and its severity.

• Stem Cell Transplantation: a method wherein cancer cells in the bone marrow are replaced with healthy cells
• Chemotherapy: a treatment for blood cancer that uses cytotoxic drugs to stop cancer cell production
• Radiation Therapy: another treatment for cancer in the blood that uses high-energy beams
• Biological Therapy: a blood cancer treatment that boosts the immune system of an individual to attack cancer cells
• Targeted therapy: a treatment that attacks the specific weakness of cancer cells

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