Leukemia symptoms and treatments

Leukemia symptoms and treatments

Symptoms of leukemia

• Chills and persistent fever
• Persistent weakness and fatigue
• Severe and frequent infections
• Unnatural loss of weight
• Enlarged liver, swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleen, etc.
• Recurring nosebleeds
• Easy bruising, bleeding, etc. appearance of red spots on the skin.
• Tenderness of bone or pain in bone
• Sweating profusely in the nights
• Possible genetic mutations.

Risk factors for leukemia

1. If the person has undergone previous therapies like radiation, chemotherapy, etc.
2. Usage of alcohol or exposure to smoking can also cause leukemia or increase the risk. Exposure to dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, etc. can also result in increasing the risk of getting leukemia. There are cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco, while benzene is used in industries like rubbers, pesticides, detergents, etc., formaldehyde is used in factories making household chemicals and products like shampoos, soaps, cleaning agents, etc.
3. Some genetic disorders like Klinefelter syndrome, neurofibromatosis, Down syndrome, et., can also increase the chances of an individual being exposed to leukemia.

Diagnosis of leukemia

• To start with, the doctor will first check for physical symptoms like swollen lymph nodes, petechiae, signs of enlargement of spleen, infections, fever, etc.
• The count of RBCs, WBCs, and platelets in your blood test. For patients with leukemia, the RBCs and platelets count will be lower while WBCs will be higher. The result will also show the presence of leukemia cells
• Bone marrow aspiration or bone marrow biopsy to determine the percentage of abnormality in the cells confirming the leukemia diagnosis.
• Imaging tests like CT scans, MRI, etc., are used to identify any complications associated with leukemia. A lumbar puncture or spinal tap is also ordered to see the possibility of spreading into the spinal fluid.

Leukemia treatment in India

• Chemotherapy or therapy using drugs is used as one of the procedures to fight leukemia. Either given through an IV or a pill, the chemicals kill the cancerous cells and it is the most common treatment used in many cancer treatments. It is administered in cycles to allow the body to rest before every session and the time for treatment varies with every individual.
• Strong and high-energy beams like protons and X-rays are used for killing and stop cancer cells from growing. Radiation therapy, as it is known to be, is given on the spot where the cancer cells have accumulated.
• Boosting your immunity using drugs is the method known as immunotherapy and it involves procedures like CAR-T cell therapy, interferon, interleukins, etc.
• Targeted therapy cuts the blood supply to the cells, stopping them from multiplying, and killing them.
• Bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant involves the transplantation of the killed cancerous cells with healthy bone marrow cells. The healthy cells are either taken from the patient before chemo or radiation and are injected again back into the system for reproduction. Sometimes, the healthy cells are taken from a donor and the new immune system will recognize the disease to kill it naturally as happens in immunotherapy.