Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Why Am I Writing About This?
I have decided to research about Leukemia Cancer, and more specifically Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; a cancer of blood and bone marrow. Although I do not have anyone related to me that has ever encountered any sort of Cancer, I know many people whose family or their friends have encountered cancer, and the most prevalent of all the cancer’s seems to be Leukemia. Since Leukemia is something that happens to most people, more than other types of cancer, I felt like it would be the right one to research, understand how it works, and what is being done today to help beat it.
What is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia?
ALL is a type of blood cell cancer. All blood is made from plasma, and 3 different cells that are made in the bone marrow: Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, and Platelets. Leukemia occurs when the bone marrow makes blood cells that do not function normally. They produce premature cells that become leukemic white blood cells called lymphoblast. This happens when a bone marrow cell has errors in the cells’ deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Due to this, the errors do not realize that they should stop growing and dividing, but instead tell the cell to continue. This causes cells to reproduce at a much faster rate and in bigger numbers. This in turn leads to the cells production becoming abnormal. These cells survive for longer and this leads to them multiplying into large numbers. These cells are unable to do their regular function build up and crowd out good and healthy cells. This in turn leads to the person becoming ill and being diagnosed with Leukemia. In ALL, the Acute means that the disease progresses very quickly and it creates early and pre-mature cells. The Lymphoblastic in ALL refers to the fact this only affects white blood cells (another name for white blood cells are lymphocytes).
Symptoms
ALL can be detected a number of ways, and as long as the detection happens early on, there are many treatment options. Some symptoms of ALL include
· Bleeding from the gums
· Bone Pain
· Frequent Infections
· Lumps caused by swollen lymph nodes in and around the neck, underarm, abdomen or groin
· Weakness, fatigue or a general decrease in energy
Statistics
Leukemia affects 1 in 3 cancer patients, and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) affects every 3 in 4 Leukemia patients. ALL is very common in young children aged between 2 to 4 years old; although it is possible that adults and seniors can get ALL it is very unlikely. Even though most children get ALL at a young age, they usually get diagnosed at around 14 years old. ALL happens to be more common in Hispanic and Caucasian people rather than African Americans and is more common the boys than girls. In 2015 there were an estimated 6 250 new cases of ALL and 1 450 deaths caused by ALL.
Treatments
The current treatment that doctors are doing to heal ALL consists of 3 parts. Its involves long term chemotherapy and the process takes usually 2 years. It consists of Induction, Consolidation, and Maintenance. During Induction, the goal is to use chemo to create a remission. Most of the Leukemia cells need to disappear in order for the Induction to work. The remission is not a cure and is only to get rid of most of your cancer cells so that your body can begin to function properly. This phase of chemo usually last between one and two months. The drugs that are used in this process include Vincristine, Dexamethasone, or Doxorubicin. This process is considered the most intense and doctor visits are very frequent if you are not staying at the hospital. During Consolidation, if the Leukemia went into remission, many of the same drugs are used although in little higher dosages but this process lasts a few months longer. Finally, during maintenance the patient is given even more chemo, but in smaller dosages over the span of 2 years. This is just to ensure that the person is healthy and that no further problems arise. The remission usually occurs to 85% of patients during this 2-year period but about half these patients relapse during that period.
Chemotherapy can be a very painful process and going through it for 2 years cause really traumatize certain people. To overcome this pain, depending on the patient the doctor usually prescribes different pain relievers such as morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, methadone and fentanyl. Many patients also go through therapy to talk to someone about how they feel in a comfortable environment.
What Can You Do?
Since Leukemia is such a common cancer that everybody is bound to have heard of, there are many ways that you can contribute to it. Many different charity events happen all the time and charities always are open to donations. Some charities include LeukemiaCare.org.uk, Leukaemia.org.au, Llscanada, and many more. To help out, all you have to do is go to any one of their websites and simply donate a few dollars, just that would help every single person going through such a horrible disease.
References
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Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/alyl.html
Typical treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemia-acutelymphocyticallinadults/detailedguide/leukemia-acute-lymphocytic-treating-typical-treatment
What are the key statistics for childhood leukemia? (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemiainchildren/detailedguide/childhood-leukemia-key-statistics
