Leukemia

Leukemia in children and its symptoms

Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow, the spongy center of the bones that makes blood cells. In leukemia, abnormal white blood cells divide out of control and crowd out the normal cells in the bloodstream. The abnormal white blood cells are not mature, and therefore cannot carry out their infection-fighting function in the blood.

Leukemia in children

Leukemia affects children too, and the number of child leukemia cases keeps increasing.
There are two types of leukemia – acute leukemia – a cancer that develops and evolves very fast and it affects all the white blood cells, and chronic leukemia – it develops slower and healthy white blood cells can still be found. More than 95% of the child leukemia cases are acute leukemia.
Signs and Symptoms of Childhood Leukemia
- Infection : A child with leukemia may develop an infection that doesn’t respond to antibiotics, have a high fever, and become very sick.
- Easy bleeding or bruising : A child with leukemia may bruise easily or have increased bleeding from small cuts and nosebleeds.
- Bone pain : This is due to accumulation of the leukemia cells underneath the covering of the surface of the bone or inside the joint.
- Swelling of the abdomen : Leukemia often causes enlargement of the liver and spleen.
- Swollen lymph nodes : Swelling of lymph nodes inside the chest or abdomen may also occur. These are sometimes detected only by imaging tests, such as CT or MRI scans.
- Enlargement of the thymus : Enlargement of the thymus or of lymph nodes inside the chest can compress the nearby trachea (windpipe). This can lead to coughing, shortness of breath, or even suffocation.
- Headache, seizures, vomiting: Leukemia cells can spread outside the bone marrow. This is called “extramedullary spread.” It may involve the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the testicles, ovaries, kidneys, lungs, heart, intestines, or other organs.

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What are different methods to treat leukemia ?

Leukemia is not a single disease. Instead, the term leukemia refers to a number of related cancers that start in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. There are both acute and chronic forms of leukemia, each with many subtypes that vary in their response to treatment. Leukemia treatment plans often are personalized and geared toward each individual patient.
In general, there are five major approaches to the treatment of leukemia :

- Chemotherapy is the use of drugs that either kill cancer cells or preventing the cells from dividing. Chemotherapy can be given in a variety of ways, with IV infusion and pill being more common. The type of chemotherapy given depends on the stage and type of lung cancer.
- Interferon therapy to slow the reproduction of leukemia cells and promote the immune system’s anti-leukemia activity. – Radiation therapy to kill cancer cells by exposure to high-energy radiation. It is the use of certain types of energy, radiation is used to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. This energy can be waves or particles like protons, electrons, x-rays and gamma rays.
- Stem cell transplantation (SCT) to enable treatment with high doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
- Surgery to remove an enlarged spleen or to install a venous access device (large plastic tube) to give medications and withdraw blood samples. The spleen collects leukemia cells and they accumulate, allowing the spleen to enlarge. An enlarged spleen can cause many complications.

Oncologists administer these treatments in a variety of combinations. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks. The treatment of leukemia depends on a number of factors. The most important of these are the histopathologic (diseased tissue) type of leukemia, its stage, and certain prognostic features, such as the patient’s age and overall health.