Bone Marrow and Leukemia Essay

Submitted By Krats1
Words: 1498
Pages: 6
Open Document
Leukemia
Lori Kracl COMP/156 Lawrence Daly

Leukemia Seers Stat facts states that in the United States an estimated 44,600 men, women and children will be diagnosed with leukemia. In 2011, an estimated 21,780 died from leukemia. Even though researchers are doing all they can, leukemia affects thousands and not enough is being done to find a cure. This cancer hurts lives in so many ways. It changes a victim’s life forever and their family too.
Leukemia is a cancer of the blood. It starts in the white blood cells. There is a mutation in the cell’s DNA that takes place and causes instructions to not happen correctly. “The mutations cause the cell to grow and divide more rapidly and continue living when normal cells would die.” Eventually these abnormal cells take over and healthy cells are then crowded out. Leukemia starts in the bone marrow or the soft part of the bone. It usually invades the blood system quickly. From there is goes to other parts of the body. There are different types of leukemia, the two most common being ALL and AML. ALL accounts for most childhood leukemia. ALL is acute so it grows fast and starts in the lymphoid cells in the bone marrow. ALL is most commonly associated with radiation exposure. There is evidence that there is leukemia present at birth in some ALL patients, “suggesting a prenatal origin for the leukemic clone.” AML is also acute but it starts in the myeloid cells that form white blood cells. AML occurs when there are too many immature cells in the blood and bone marrow. AML is usually diagnosed by doing blood cell counts. There are low levels red blood cells which can cause anemia. Usually if this happens then a bone marrow biopsy is done to examine. AML accounts for most of the remaining cases with a few other cases being a rare type of leukemia. Children with Down syndrome are more likely to be diagnosed with ALL and AML than other cancers because of genetic factors. Chances of survival have become greater over the years because of our increase in knowledge. Children are likely to have two remissions when diagnosed with leukemia. With the first remission they are still given a good chance of survival. If they get leukemia again and go into a second remission, their chances of survival are not good when the cancer comes back. Most ALL and AML patients are more likely to live 5 years longer with the current treatments that we now have.
There are many symptoms of leukemia. The visual symptoms are unusual bruising that occurs for no know reason. This can be as simple as bruises showing up for no reason to massive bruising from a minor injury. Petechiae is a condition where tiny blood blisters form on the skin surface. This condition looks similar to a rash or freckles on the skin. Other visible signs are pale skin, weight loss for no know reason and prolonged bleeding from minor cuts. The non-visible symptoms are feeling achy all the time, shortness of breath after doing menial tasks, headaches all the time and enlarged lymph nodes without any sickness that would cause them to be swollen. Most of these symptoms will be combined and not just one of them alone. Many times leukemia goes undetected because the symptoms are so easy to misdiagnose. Many of these symptoms are linked to other illnesses or diseases so they look elsewhere before they look at leukemia. Many of us have these symptoms when we have the flu or the common cold. It is the combination of symptoms, the longevity of the situation and the combination of the symptoms. When a doctor suspects leukemia they start by running blood work to determine the blood cell count. If there is an issue with an abnormal blood cell count then they take a bone marrow sample to examine under the microscope. This is done by inserting a needle into the hip bone and extracting marrow from the center of the bone. This is a very painful procedure and is not done on a
Show More

Related Documents: Bone Marrow and Leukemia Essay

Leukemia: Bone Marrow Cells Essay

for this deadly disease. Leukemia is a disease that develops in the lymphoid system. In Leukemia the neoplasm inside the bone marrow fills up with abnormal Wbc's, so no other cells can be synthesized. The overproduction of these abnormal Wbc's may spill out into the blood, and infiltrate into other tissues such as the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes causing these organs to become enlarged. Leukemia can be classified as acute or chronic. In acute Leukemia, the bone marrow cells dont mature properly…

Words 571 - Pages 3

Epithelial Cancer

continuously and in a rapid growth. The other two are disorders of the bone marrow and the lymphatic system, or leukemias and lymphomas(Nathan). Leukemias mainly affect the bone marrow and the blood while lymphomas mainly affects the lymph nodes. However, it is possible to have cancerous lymphocytes to be found in both the bone marrow and the lymph nodes which makes it sometimes difficult to determine whether the cancer is leukemia or lymphoma.…

Words 302 - Pages 2

leukemia paper

Cancer­ Leukemia Research Report Nashra Mohammed Period­5/ Biology Ms. Noelle Howell 12/12/14 Leukemia is the cancer of white blood cells. When a person has leukemia, a lot of white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. White blood cells usually protect the body, but at time these cells are usually defective. These are defective because these white blood cells are not fully developed. The symptoms of leukemia can be bleeding, bruising, tiredness…

Words 1502 - Pages 7

Leukemia (Blood Cancer)

Leukemia (Blood Cancer) Every four minutes someone in the United States is diagnosed with some type of leukemia. Making it one the most commonly contracted cancers today, affecting people of all ages. Leukemia is one is one of the most widespread cancers in the world. According to a recent poll conducted with 100 students, faculty, and staff of Crane high School 62.5% of participants have known someone who has had Leukemia while the other 37.5% have not(1). This small collection of data shows the…

Words 1733 - Pages 7

Childhood Leukemia Essay

After being successfully treated for childhood leukemia, patients could develop late effects such as cardiac dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction, growth abnormalities, neuropsychological defects, and second cancers (Kersey, 1998). After receiving chemotherapy, many childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients have developed second cancers (Kersey, 1998). Also, some survivors of leukemia experience fatigue years after their treatment. Fatigue increases the risk of poor health and depression (Meeske…

Words 1038 - Pages 5

Acute Myeloid Leukemia

CANCER: Acute Myeloid Leukemia ANP1120 6-13-13 CANCER: Acute Myeloid Leukemia Acute Myeloid Leukemia abbreviated AML (abbreviations are used to simplify the term [txt bk. pg. 7 ch. 1]) is a cancer of the blood and the bone marrow in the body. In a “normal” human body, there are blast cells that make new bone (known as osteoblasts [txt bk. Pg. 120 ch. 6]), these blast cells make strong healthy mature bone cells (known as osteocytes [txt bk. Pg. 120 ch. 6]) within the body. In a person with…

Words 2097 - Pages 9

Chronic Leukemia Research Paper

Leukemia is an American English/Greek word. Leukemia begins in the bone marrow were the white blood cells are not fully developed. The symptoms are bruising and tiredness. Leukemia risk factors are common in people's daily lives, such as: smoking, ionizing radiation, and different chemicals bone marrow damage, lack of blood platelets, and blood clotting. Leukemia is divided into two large groups. The two large groups are called Acute Leukemia and the second group is called Chronic Leukemia. Acute…

Words 169 - Pages 1

Cancer: Leukemia and Acute Lymphoid Leukemia Essays

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is an acute leukemia characterized by explosion of immature lymphoblast-like cells in bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, and blood; this is usually most common in children. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is also known as acute lymphocytic leukemia or acute lymphoid leukemia. There are about 4,000 new cases of ALL in the United States each year. This is most often seen with children younger than the age of 10. However, One-third of cases are adults. About 6,050 new…

Words 853 - Pages 4

Chronic Leukemia Research Paper

about Leukemia? Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects your white blood cells. Leukemia is a genetic disease that begins in the bone marrow. Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells anywhere in a body. Leukemia has two forms of this disease: acute and chronic leukemia. Acute leukemia moves very quickly, which is destroying the human’s immune system. Chronic leukemia moves really slow, which the immune system is not being destroyed that quickly. I will talk about how leukemia is a genetic…

Words 827 - Pages 4

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL): A Case Study

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) is rare in children, but it is also the most common type of cancer diagnosed in children. ALL is diagnosed in 20-30% of children with cancer under the age of 15 years old (Hart, Juliet 10/2014). Treatment usually consists of a combination of chemotherapy and radiation or sometimes chemotherapy alone. Usually, treatment last two to three years but, has a relapse rate of 20% one year after treatment. Treatment may cause long-term learning disabilities that may show…

Words 1153 - Pages 5