Leukaemia Treatment And Survival Rate

Do you want to learn about Leukaemia disease, its treatment, and its survival rate? You’re at the right place. This article reveals vital information about Leukaemia, its treatment, and its survival rate. Stay tuned!

Leukaemia is a cancer of blood-forming tissues, hindering the body’s ability to fight infection. Many types exist such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

It is caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in your body.

Those white blood cells crowd out the red blood cells and platelets that your body needs to be healthy. The extra white blood cells don’t work right.

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Risk Factors Of Leukaemia

The causes of leukemia aren’t known. However, several factors have been identified which may increase your risk. These include:

• A family history of leukemia
• Smoking, which increases your risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
• Genetic disorders such as Down syndrome
• Blood disorders, such as myelodysplastic syndrome, which is sometimes called “preleukemia”
• Previous treatment for cancer with chemotherapy or radiation
• Ionization radiation
• Exposure to chemicals such as benzene

Symptoms of Leukaemia

Different types of leukemia can cause different problems. You might not notice any signs in the early stages of some forms. When you do have symptoms, they may include;

• Weakness or fatigue that don’t go away even after resting
• Bruising or bleeding easily
• Fever or chills
• Frequent infections
• Bone pain and tenderness
• Headaches
• Vomiting
• Seizures
• Unintentional Weight loss
• Excessive sweating especially at night also called “Night sweats”
• Shortness of breath
• Swollen lymph nodes or organs like your spleen
• Red spots on the skin, called petechiae

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Treatments Of Leukaemia

If you have suspected case of leukaemia or any of the symptoms above, your doctor will begin with a complete history and physical examination. but leukemia can’t be fully diagnosed by a physical exam. Instead, doctors will use blood tests, biopsies, and imaging tests to make a diagnosis.

Once leukemia is diagnosed, it’ll be staged. Staging helps your doctor determine your outlook.

AML (Acute myeloid leukemia) and ALL (Acute lymphoblastic leukemia) are staged based on how cancer cells look under the microscope and the type of cell involved.

ALL and CLL (Chronic lymphocytic leukemia) are staged based on the WBC (White Blood Cells) count at the time of diagnosis.

The presence of immature white blood cells, or myeloblasts, in the blood and bone marrow is also used to stage AML and CML (Chronic myeloid leukemia).

Leukemia is usually treated by a hematologist-oncologist. These are doctors who specialize in blood disorders and cancer.

The treatment depends on the type and stage of cancer.  Some form of the disease grow slowly and don’t need immediate treatment, while others grow rapidly.

The following processes may be used to treat Leukaemia;

• Chemotherapy; uses drugs to kill leukemia cells.
• Radiation therapy; uses high-energy radiation to damage leukemia cells and inhibit their growth.
• Stem cell transplantation/Bone marrow transplant; replaces diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow, either your own (called autologous transplantation) or from a donor (called allologous transplantation).
• Biological or immune therapy; uses treatments that help your immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.
• Targeted therapy; uses medications that take advantage of vulnerabilities in cancer cells.

Survival Rate Of Leukaemia

Latest figures show that the 5-year survival rate for all subtypes of leukemia is 61.4%

A 5-year survival rate looks at how many people are still alive 5 years after their diagnosis.

Leukemia is most common in people aged over 55, with the median age of diagnosis being 66.

It is also one of the most common cancers for people under age 20. The survival rate is higher for younger people.

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In Conclusion

This page reveals detailed information about Leukaemia Cancer, its treatment, symptoms, and survival rate. I hope you find this information useful. If you do, please feel free to share it with your family and friends. You might be saving a life by doing so.