BACKGROUND:
- Leukemia is the cancer of the blood cells; begins in the bone marrow, soft tissue inside bones where blood cells are made
- Healthy person: bone marrow makes white blood cells (help your body fight off invaders), red blood cells (carry oxygen to all parts of the body), and platelets (help clot blood)
- Leukemia: excessive number of immature/abnormal white blood cells, known as ¡§leukemia cells,¡¨ without regulation; don¡¦t perform the proper functions and crowd out the normal blood cells „³ serious problems: anemia, infection, bleeding
- Leukemia cells enter the blood stream; spread to other parts of the body: spleen, liver, lymph nodes
- 4 major types: Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).
- Acute or chronic = how fast the cancer progresses. Acute gets worse very quickly and may make the patient feel sick immediately; chronic gradual and may not show symptoms for years.
- Myelogenous or Lymphocytic (aka. lymphoblastic) depends on type of white blood cell it affects. Lymphocytic leukemia affects lymphocytes; Myelogenous affects myelocytes.
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia: most common form of leukemia diagnosed in children though adults can also develop it.
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia: most common in adults, especially older than 55; rare in children.
- Acute myelogenous leukemia: both children and adults
- Chronic myelogenous leukemia: mainly in adults
- Common signs: fever, headaches, bruising or bleeding easily, bone/joint pain, swollen belly from an enlarged spleen, swollen lymph nodes (in armpit, neck), infections, shortness of breath, weakness/fatigue, loss of weight/appetite
- Detection: physical examination (looking for swollen lymph nodes and check to see if the patient's spleen or liver is enlarged), blood tests since leukemia causes a high level of white blood cells and low levels of other cells like platelets and hemoglobin (red blood cells), then bone marrow biopsy (allows the doctor look at cells inside the patient's bone)
- Cause unknown, but exposure to high levels of radiation (medical radiation or nuclear power plant accidents), exposure to chemicals (formaldehyde and benzene), genetics (having down syndrome, chromosomal abnormalities, or family history of leukemia), smoking, drug use, and previous history of chemotherapy can increase the risk of developing leukemia
- Depends on age, overall health, stage of cancer, type of cancer
- Referred to by doctors as ¡§remission¡¨ because chance leukemia could come back
- Chemotherapy ¡V strong anti-cancer drugs to kill leukemia cells; treatment for most types of leukemia
- Radiation ¡V uses high X-Rays to treat cancer cells that may stay after surgery, especially if all of the cancerous cells can't be removed; side effects like nausea and irritation of the skin are common but usually get better when treatments stop
- Bone Marrow Transplant - can rebuild a patient's supply of normal blood cells and boost their immune system; requires bone marrow from a same-type donor; before the transplant, radiation or chemotherapy is used to destroy the cells in the patient's bone marrow to make room for the donated cells
- Biological therapy - special medicines that improve the body's natural defenses against cancer
- Clinical trials - research projects to test new medicines and other treatments
- Greeks are believed to have been the first to recognize the disease in the 5th century; the word ¡§leukemia¡¨ comes from Greek ¡§leukos¡¨ and ¡§hemia¡¨ which together mean "white blood"
- First diagnosis was made in 1845 by John Hughes Benett in Edinburgh.
- Disease statistically affects more men than women, but men have a slightly higher 5-year survival rate.
- Chronic type of leukemia is more common among older people while the acute type is mainly in children
- Many famous people have also battled leukemia, including Ed Bradley (a broadcast journalist for CBS News and a co-host of TV's weekly news ¡§"Minutes" who died at the age of 65 due to an operation on his spleen), Marie Curie (famous Nobel-Prize winner who died from leukemia because of high radiation exposure), Mary Travers (famous folk singer from Peter, Paul, & Mary), and Bill Walsh (football coach at Stanford University who died of leukemia at the age of 75).
- Although currently no definite cure for leukemia or any type cancer, many research foundations including St. Jude's Children Hospital and the American Cancer Society are working to find one
- 2010 National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Review estimate around 43,050 new cases and 21,840 of those people in the United States will die from leukemia
- Overall 5-year relative survival from 17 geographic areas was 54.1%. (by race and gender: 54.6% for white males; 54.2% for white females; 46.8% for black males; 46.2% for black females)
- Middle age of death for leukemia was 74 years old in the US
Further Reading
http://whsleukemia.weebly.com/Works Cited
Davis, Bets. "Leukemia - Symptoms, Types, Causes, Diagnoisis and Treatment Options for Leukemia." WebMD.
Healthwise, 26 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
"Facts About Leukemia." Cancer Prevention. 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.
"Famous People With Leukemia." HistoryKing. History King, 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2010.
Feist, Patty. ¡§Signs of Childhood Cancer.¡¨ Pediatric Oncology Resource Center. Association of Cancer Online
Resources, July 2005. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
"Leukemia Home Page." National Cancer Institute. National Cancer Institute, 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.
"Leukemia Risk Factors." Oncology Channel. 04 Dec. 2007. Web. 12 Oct.
2010.
Myrrh, Hector. ¡§Leukemia 101.¡¨ About.com. The New York Times Company, 8 May 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.