Leukemia Cancer
By Kaileigh Row and Katie Taylor
What is Leukemia?
http://www.cancer.gov/research/progress/snapshots/leukemia
Picture - http://www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov/types/leukemia/patient/cll-treatment-pdq#section/_1
How Common Is This Cancer?
http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/leuks.html
Sources also have facts regarding pediatric leukemia. In children, Hispanic and white individuals are at a higher risk for leukemia than African Americans and Asians. Pediatric leukemia cases are more common in girls than in boys.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemiainchildren/detailedguide/childhood-leukemia-key-statistics
Some Symptoms of Leukemia
Bleeding gums or nose
Petechiae
(pi-tee-kee-ee) Tiny red spots occurring under the skin
http://www.medical-labs.net/difference-between-petechiae-purpura-and-ecchymoses-3256/
Enlarged lymph nodes
Frequent Infection
What are Possible Causes of Leukemia?
Picture - http://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=44179
Some more causes. . .
Exposure to harmful substances
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/agent-oranges-long-legacy-for-vietnam-and-veterans.html?_r=0
Being related to someone with Leukemia
http://blog.estately.com/2014/08/how-family-friendly-are-oregons-20-biggest-cities/
chronic problems with your immune system
http://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/patient/cll-treatment-pdq
What happens at the cellular level?
http://www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov/types/leukemia/patient/cll-treatment-pdq
http://www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov/types/leukemia/patient/adult-all-treatment-pdq
How is leukemia diagnosed?
1. Physical Examination - Used to discover symptoms of leukemia
2. Blood Cell Count - Having a high percentage of white blood cells is an indicator for leukemia.
3. DNA Testing of Bone Marrow - A sample of the patient's bone marrow is taken and its chromosomes are studied to help identify types of cells linked with leukemia, and the type of leukemia.
4. Lumbar Puncture - Spinal fluid is collected and then examined under a microscope to spot leukemic cells.
Treatments or Cures
- Observation
- Radiation therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Surgery
- Target therapy
There are always new treatments coming out. Here are 3 clinical trials that are used.
- Chemotherapy with stem cell transplant
- Biologic therapy
- Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy
Source/More Information - http://www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov/types/leukemia/patient/cll-treatment-pdq#section/_48
Picture- https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/12/03/is-chemotherapy-the-best-way-to-combat-cancer/
How does leukemia impact the people it affects?
- Low amounts of blood cells. AML can hinder the body's ability to produce blood cells. Chemotherapy magnifies this effect by eliminating both cancerous and normal cells.
- High risk for infection. With fewer white blood cells, the immune system is weakened, making your risk for infection much higher. Chemotherapy can damage the mouth and intestines, leaving open wounds for infectious bacteria to breed.
- In order to mitigate these effects, a transfusion of blood cells is done. This has the potential to cause graft versus host disease (GVHD) whereby the donor's blood cells attack the patient's blood cells.
https://www.lls.org/leukemia/acute-myeloid-leukemia/treatment/side-effects
http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/124/3/354?sso-checked=true
Intriguing Facts
- There is a 58.5% chance of surviving 5 years with leukemia.
http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/leuks.html
- “In 2015, 54,270 people are expected to be diagnosed with leukemia.”
- "Approximately every 9 minutes, someone in the US dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 155 people each day or more than six people every hour.”
- In the United States, one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer every three minutes.