Types of leukemia

Leukemia is part of this disease of the cancer group . In particular, it is directly related to a severe affectation of the blood in an important way . It is usually known in addition to ” leukemia ” as ” hematological cancer “; the use of the first term being more common. This type of cancerous disease is caused by a high production of abnormal white blood cells.

This blood that shows abnormal conditions is usually found in the bone marrow; situation that causes a negative affectation not only to the blood system but to several organs. This type of disease has the characteristic that, unlike the normal functioning of white and red blood cells in a healthy person, they die; in leukemia it does not happen.

This situation causes abnormal white blood cells to accumulate , bringing with it a direct impact on the normal functioning of the fluid and properties of the blood . As can be seen, the scenario is very complex for the patient suffering from leukemia. In fact, this is considered a disease that takes the patient to the terminal phase in most cases.

Historically speaking, leukemia has been known as such since the golden age of the Greeks, of course, with its nuances, that is, they were not as well known as they are today. In that historical period it was simply called “blood disease”. It will be until the year 1845 when it was scientifically defined.

The pathological properties and symptomatology were assigned to define that a person suffered from leukemia, thanks to the contribution of John Hughes Benett. However, it will not be until the year 1970 when the possibility of curing a person with this condition could be verified. It is now recognized that much remains to be done in this type of disease .

Although there is no clear idea of ​​what are the causes that develop this type of disease, there is an idea of ​​what are some of the factors that trigger the presence of leukemia in some people. Among them we have genetic factors, weakness due to external causes of the immune system and some environmental influences.

In what has to do with the symptomatological picture of a person to be a candidate for the presence of leukemia by a medical diagnosis , we have the presence of intense fever, immediate loss of appetite, consequently the immediate decrease in weight is noted . Any type of infection occurs recurrently in the person.

In addition, the person comes to suffer recurrently from chills, physically they begin to notice a series of red dots on the skin . Regarding the involvement of the organs, a notorious inflammation is shown in the liver and the so-called ganglia. You will also find in the carrier of leukemia some intense and recurring pain in the joints.

So if a person presents this type of symptomatology, they resort to detection and, in a probable case, the detection of leukemia; It is proceeded by indication of the doctor to carry out the test called: “hemogram”. A series of studies are also carried out, particularly in the bone marrow . These procedures are relevant since if it is detected in an early stage it can be treated and cured.

Once a person is diagnosed with leukemia, what must be done is a series of chemotherapies in order to kill those cells that are known to be cancerous. Of course, depending on the severity and/or progress that the person has in relation to leukemia, it will be the level of intensity and frequency of performing chemotherapies.

Once several chemotherapies are applied to the patient and the doctor realizes that this is not enough, what is done is to resort to a bone marrow transplant , a situation that in many countries is very complicated by the fact that it is not deeply rooted culture of organ donation. There is also the compatibility factor in case of having bone marrow in the hospital.

Regardless of the situation in which the patient finds himself, he permanently runs the risk of suffering from severe anemia and a severe hemorrhagic condition that can unfortunately lead to death. To avoid or mitigate this possibility, what is carried out is a series of blood transfusions so that the patient has the necessary quantity and quality.

The patient who is subjected to any treatment modality, and the degree of affectation of leukemia in his organism, this notably presents affectations of a physical nature, as is the case of hair loss. It is a characteristic that people who have any blood type , in fact, go through that stage becoming bald.

In addition to the obvious hair loss , the patient is constantly severely tired as he is very weak. Body aches , particularly in the joints, are severe and recurrent. It also manifests itself in them, a significant weight loss until they are very thin. Finally, nausea is recurrent.

So far, we have been talking about the effects that leukemia brings with it, however, from the psychological point of view, it is important to point out that situations of anxiety, depression and, in a very particular way, memory loss occur in the patient. When the person, thanks to treatment and early detection, lives in constant worry that they will have leukemia again .

This type of disease affects all kinds of people indiscriminately, after all, they are all people susceptible to having any type of disease . According to the behavior of the prevalence and data from biostatistics, children are the social group most susceptible to developing this type of disease.

Regarding the prevention stage , it should be taken into account that currently, according to medical science, there is no diagnostic methodology that allows developing a prevention program against leukemia, as if it happens in another type of diseases . What doctors usually recommend is that all people lead their lives in a healthy way.

One of the criteria that doctors promote to reduce the risk of presenting any type of carcinogenic or oncological disease is that foods with a certain toxicological potential are not consumed . Generally these substances can be found in the consumption of red meat. This habit reduces the probability of carrying cancer and in case of having it, it can be cured.

The way in which the presence of leukemia can be diagnosed according to the symptoms it presents is carried out through various tests such as blood tests, preparation of a bone marrow extraction procedure through biopsy . Cerebrospinal fluid can be removed in this way .

Other studies or laboratory tests are also carried out, such as blood cell analysis , coagulation levels, among others. The patient is also subjected to chromosomal studies to discover the nature of the cytochemistry and cytogenetics of the cells. Finally, the patient can be subjected to resonance and imaging studies, such as X-rays and tomography.

Regarding the treatments that a person who has leukemia should have , it is chemotherapy as mentioned. For that, it is carried out in several stages such as induction, remission stage, consolidation stage and maintenance stage. The times and objectives are handled differently.

In the stage from induction to remission:

The aim is to eliminate as many harmful cells as possible , a procedure that is applied on average in five weeks. In the specific stage of remission, the aim is to control the degree of incidence of leukemia in the patient. In the case of the stage known as consolidation, it is implemented in a period of three weeks.

In the case of the stage known as maintenance, it is carried out until the total treatment lasts three years. Precisely when the treatment is finished, a follow-up and continuous medical check-up should be carried out on the patient. For that, a series of controls are used to anticipate any change that may occur and be an incident of leukemia.

Types of leukemia

Histological history of the patient

New

Leukemia comes to appear and develop in the patient immediately , reducing the possibility of being detected prior to normal symptoms of leukemia, increasing the risk of not curing the patient. This situation of not having a previous history makes it really difficult to detect the disease in time at an early stage.

Secondary

In this case, what we have is the evident presence of the symptomatology that makes the doctor who examines the patient , be able to make the decision to carry out the corresponding studies and analyzes to rule out possible leukemia. If it is positive, resort to early treatment. The disease usually develops from a history of blood problems such as anemia.

Blood cell type

lymphoblastic

Leukemia develops in the blood when there is an attack by cancer cells on the so-called “lymphocytes”, as white blood cells are known , developing in them a series of anomalies, among which is the fact that they do not die in a normal way. normal, a situation that presents in the blood the excessive accumulation of this type of globules affecting the functioning of the blood .

Myeloblastic

It develops a behavior contrary to the previous type of cancer cells , that is, in this case it attacks the red blood cells . That is, it directly affects the cells called “myeloids”, which regulate the behavior and properties of red blood cells and platelets . When a person is directly affected, for example, in platelets, he will easily get sick .

Disease progression

Acute

The main characteristic of this type of leukemia is that when it originates in the patient ‘s blood system , it reproduces at a high speed , increasing the impact on the development of symptoms and severe damage to the patient. Situation that makes it difficult to treat as a candidate to eradicate leukemia.

Chronicle

When this type of chronic leukemia occurs in a person, its behavior and development will gradually advance its dangerousness , that is, it will do so very slowly. This allows cancer cells to gradually increase in significant quantities due to “crowding” in the system, developing a high level of danger.

Pathological classification

Acute lymphocytic

According to the characteristics of this type of leukemia, it is recognized as one of the most frequent and well-known . It usually occurs in infant patients and in older adults . From the point of view of gender, statistically it is known that men suffer more. When it occurs in the patient, it tends to progress very quickly, reducing the chances of being cured.

Chronic lymphocytic

It is a type of leukemia that occurs in adults . It is uncommon for it to manifest in children and older adults, although some cases rarely occur. The disease develops because the so-called white blood cells reproduce and present abnormalities in a severe way, causing people to have blood that does not work properly.

Acute myelogenous

In this case we find the characteristic that the person develops in their blood system the blood cells known as “myeloblasts” with greater quantity, causing direct effects on the functioning of the blood . It is very common for them to occur in adults . When this type of leukemia originates, the affectation usually develops with high speed.

Chronic myelogenous

It is a form of leukemia that has the particularity of not manifesting any type of symptomatology in people . In addition, when the disease occurs in the person, the level of negative impact gradually develops, so that in the first stage the person does not suspect this condition.