How is leukemia caused? What are the symptoms of blood tumor?

Many celebrities died of leukemia, commonly known as "hematologic cancer", and the leading characters on TV often died of this disease, which made everyone very scared when they heard of "hematologic cancer"! ! Clinically, some patients disappeared after hearing the doctor's diagnosis of "blood tumor", and they did not return to see a doctor, thus delaying their illness. The patient said: At that moment, I felt very close to death, and my mind was blank ... I heard that chemotherapy was terrible and I was afraid to go back to the clinic. In fact, Mr. Jimmy, a famous illustrator, once suffered from leukemia. He received treatment and his condition was controlled, so that he could continue to create better works for everyone.

How is leukemia caused?

Teacher Chen, 2 1 year old, is still a student. I went to the clinic because I was tired and had a fever for many days, but I didn't get better. He was transferred to the emergency department of our hospital. The doctor diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia and had to suspend school temporarily. After active chemotherapy, the condition was controlled, and after receiving peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, he recovered well and could return to school. Therefore, it is not that leukemia is hopeless! ! According to statistics, "leukemia" ranks 10 in male and female mortality, accounting for 2.05% of all malignant tumor deaths.

What is leukemia?

Bone marrow is the hematopoietic organ of human body, which produces red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. When cancer cells appear in bone marrow, inhibit hematopoietic function and produce abnormal blood cells, cancer cells will flow all over the body with blood, resulting in the body being unable to resist foreign bacteria and viruses. If not treated immediately, cancer cells will grow rapidly, and the later treatment, the more likely it is to be life-threatening. Leukemia is divided into acute and chronic. Acute leukemia is more serious than chronic leukemia, with higher mortality, more complicated disease manifestations and more difficult to deal with.

1. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML):

According to the degree of differentiation, high-risk adults are subdivided into M0 to M7 types.

2. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL):

Children and adults account for a small proportion, subdivided into L 1 to L3 types. The treatment of acute leukemia is mainly injection chemotherapy, which is divided into two stages. The first stage is "guided therapy". After receiving chemotherapy, cancer cells will temporarily disappear from the blood. After the remission of the disease, they entered the second stage of "consolidation treatment", mainly to prevent the recurrence of the disease. If there are suitable bone marrow stem cells, bone marrow stem cell transplantation can be considered.

3. Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML):

Most patients are 20-45 years old, and the course of the disease progresses slowly. The main reason is that the genetic material between chromosome 9 and chromosome 22 has been transposed (Philadelphia chromosome). At present, there are oral chemotherapy and oral targeted drugs (Gleevec), which only inhibit cancer cells and do not destroy the function of normal cells, so that cancer cells will not proliferate again. It is the first-line drug for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia at present.

4. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL):

Most elderly people are B-cell type. If the patient has no symptoms, he will generally observe first, follow up blood tests regularly, and then consider treatment after symptoms appear. At present, the treatment is controlled by oral chemotherapy, and targeted drugs can be injected.

Why do you get leukemia?

The cause of the disease is unknown, and the common possible causes are as follows:

1. Radiation:

The incidence of leukemia in normal people is about 1/25000, but the incidence of leukemia in residents within one kilometer of the atomic bomb explosion circle is as high as 1/60 a few years later. Pregnant women receive abdominal X-ray examination, and the incidence of neonatal infection is also high.

2. Chemical reagents:

The incidence of workers who have been exposed to organobenzene for a long time or patients who have received alkylating agent chemotherapy is also higher than that of normal people.

3. Heredity or gene mutation:

Congenital chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome, Bloom syndrome, aplastic anemia, or brothers and sisters in the family have a higher probability of suffering from leukemia.

4. Autoimmune diseases:

Autoimmune deficiency may be related to chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

5. The virus is salty:

At present, it is known that human T lymphocyte virus 1 type (HTLV-I) infection is related to adult T cell leukemia.

What are the symptoms of leukemia?

Most leukemias have no symptoms. In the early stage of acute leukemia, it is characterized by fever, fatigue, pallor, bleeding tendency (gum bleeding, skin abrasion), bone pain and so on. However, once they appear, they will stand out. Most chronic leukemia is diagnosed because of abnormal blood or splenomegaly found in health examination.

How to diagnose

1. Blood test:

Monitor changes of blood cells.

2. Peripheral blood smear:

Under the microscope, there will be many germ cells in the blood sample, which are immature white blood cells, mainly depending on the differentiation of blood cells.

3. Chromosome analysis:

Analyze the chromosomes of blood or bone marrow cells for pathological changes.

4. Bone marrow biopsy:

Many people are very afraid of bone marrow examination, thinking that it is spinal fluid (lumbar puncture), but it is not. The main site of bone marrow puncture is the intestinal ridge at the pelvis. First, the patient will be asked to lie on his side. The doctor will disinfect his skin first, and then use a special needle to pierce the ridge of intestinal bone and draw out a little bone marrow tissue and blood. After that, the gauze will press the puncture site and lie flat for 30 minutes, then he can get out of bed and walk around without bleeding. This is the best way to determine the diagnosis and classification of leukemia.

What is transplant therapy?

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is to transfuse normal bone marrow cells, peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells or umbilical cord blood stem cells to patients like blood transfusion. Before transplantation, ultra-high dose of chemical drugs and whole body radiotherapy will be carried out to eliminate cancer cells in the body as much as possible, and at the same time suppress the immune system of the body, prevent allogeneic bone marrow cells from being rejected after transplantation, and re-establish the hematopoietic system and immune system of the patient. Transplant treatment is also conditional. It must be evaluated by a doctor first, and the most important thing to pay attention to after transplantation is to prevent complications, such as infection and rejection. At present, immunosuppressive drugs can reduce the occurrence and severity of complications.

Types of transplantation

1. Bone marrow transplantation:

There are two kinds: autologous and allogeneic. "Autologous" refers to the patient's own bone marrow when it is not invaded or completely relieved by chemical treatment. "Allogeneic" refers to other people's bone marrow, which comes from relatives (twins, brothers and sisters, parents) and non-relatives (matched through Tzu Chi bone marrow bank or other bone marrow banks).

2. Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation:

After patients receive high-dose chemotherapy, stem cells in bone marrow will be released into peripheral blood. At this time, combined with the use of white blood cell growth hormone (GCSF) to promote the increase of stem cells, enough stem cells can be extracted, collected, separated and frozen, and then delivered to patients without general anesthesia.

3. Umbilical cord blood transplantation:

Umbilical cord blood is rich in hematopoietic stem cells. When the fetus is born, after the umbilical cord is cut, the umbilical cord blood is taken out from the placenta and frozen for future use by oneself or others. At present, the development of umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation can improve the scope of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, so that more patients can recover from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, but umbilical cord blood also has certain limitations, which need to be discussed with doctors again. Bone marrow transplantation and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation are common in clinic.

Leukemia usually comes quickly and urgently. Many patients can't accept cancer for a while and are psychologically unprepared, so they must face successive treatments. During the treatment, they often need to live in isolation wards to avoid infection, which is very lonely for patients. Because of the side effects of high-dose chemotherapy, patients will be very hard. Under great physical and mental pressure, the support, care and encouragement of relatives and friends are very important and can be borrowed when necessary. All cancers are likely to recur, so regular follow-up is very important. Early detection can control diseases. If you have any questions, you can consult a doctor or discuss them with a case manager so that patients can get the best care and quality of life!