Childhood Leukemia Essay

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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 et al., 2005).
Fifty Years of Studies of the Biology and Therapy of Childhood Leukemia
Poor cardiovascular health and cardiovascular-related deaths have been a major issue for cancer survivors (Oudin et al., 2011). It has been shown that there is
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Fortunately, there are several different physical treatments. Unfortunately, there are complications from them (REF). Treatments for childhood leukemia include allogeneic stem cell transplants; drugs such as bendamustine, flavopiridol, and lenalidomide; and novel antibodies (Bottcher et al., 2012). These treatments were recently shown to have optimal outcomes. However, some of the most effective therapies cause significant toxicity in the body. Because of this, the prediction of the duration of remission is important for avoiding over treating patients who are at low risk (Bottcher et al., …show more content…
Fortunately, the availability of stem cells from unrelated donors, especially umbilical cord donors, is a helpful and optimistic source in the development of blood and bone marrow transplants for people who have acute leukemia. An advantage of using unrelated umbilical cord blood, which has started to be used more recently, is that it is quickly available. Large umbilical cord blood banks will provide an opportunity for research on patients who do not have matched siblings. It is suggested that children with acute leukemia who receive unrelated donor marrow have similar outcomes as leukemia patients with matched sibling donors (Kersey,