The first thing that comes to our mind is, what exactly is leukemia? In Simple language, this is a cancer of the blood and the bone marrow. Our bone marrow produces blood cells. The leukemia may develop due to a problem with production of the blood cells. It normally affects the leukocytes or white blood cells (WBCs).
Leukemia most likely to affect the people over 55 years but this is also most common type of cancer in those below 15 years of the age.
The Acute leukemia develops in quick time and get to worse condition rapidly, but chronic leukemia gets bad to worse over time. There are many types of leukemia and the best course or plan of treatment and a patient’s chance of survival from blood cancer depends on which type they have.
In this article, we shall provide an overview of leukemia disease, causes and best leukemia treatment options in India.
Causes of Leukemia;
Leukemia disease develops when DNA of developing blood cells specifically of the white cells incurs some damage. Because of this the blood cells grow and start dividing uncontrollably.
The cells which are healthy they die after a particular interval of time and the new cells replace them. These cells which are abnormal do not die at a natural point in their life span. Instead of that they build up and start occupying more space. As your bone marrow produces more cancer cells, they start getting overcrowded in the blood preventing the white blood cells (WBCs) from growth and function normally.
Types of Leukemia;
There are 4 main categories of leukemia:
- Acute
- Chronic
- Lymphocytic
- Myelogenous
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia;
Children below 5 years of the age are at highest risk of developing this acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, this can also affect adults, mostly over 50+ years. A data suggests that out of every 5 deaths from ALL, 4 occur in adults.
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia;
This is common amongst the adults above 55 years of the age, however, younger adults may also develop it. About twenty five percent of adults with leukemia have CLL(chronic lymphocytic leukemia). It is more common in males than in females and very rarely affects the children.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia/ Acute Myelogenous Leukemia / Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia;
AML is common in adults than in small kids, but if you see overall, it is rare type of cancer. It develops more often in males than in females. This develops quickly and symptoms some of the symptoms include difficulty in breathing and pain in the bone joints. The environmental factors (Climate change) can trigger this type.
Chronic Myeloid leukemia;
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) or Chronic Myeloid leukemia mostly develops in the adults. About fifteen % of all leukemia cases in the USA are CML. Children very rarely develop this type of the leukemia disease.
Below Mentioned Are The Treatments Given To Leukemia Patients:
- Chemotherapy
- Targeted Therapy
- Radiation Therapy
- Stem Cell Transplantation
