Leukemia is a Greek word witch actually means white blood. The diseases usually begins in the white blood cells of the patient, or in the bone marrow that produces white cells, spreading quickly through out the body eventually affecting a lot of vital organs.
The vital liquid, that is blood, contains two major types of cells; the first type would be the red blood cell, witch is slightly bigger in numbers than the white cells. The red blood cells carry the much needed oxygen from the body’s lungs to the organs (it also caries around nutrients). On the other hand the white blood cell is the primary soldier of the immune system helping the body greatly in fighting of viruses and diseases.
The way that leukemia works it that it disrupts the normal processes of the body, the production of white blood cells actually increasing this way. Because of the large numbers they start behaving un natural, fact that eventually leads to the harming of organs and the inability of the body to fight dangerous diseases.
The factors that actually trigger the appearance of leukemia in the body of the human are still unknown. Some say that certain chemicals, radiation or chemo therapy are responsible for making people ill. Other think that the most probable causes are genetic an hereditary factors.
Modern doctors and scientist, with the help of state of the art equipment, have actually found that leukemia consists of 4 main types. Symptoms vary from one type to another, each of them needing a different treatment than the other. More general symptoms present in every patient that is suffering from leukemia, regardless of the type, consist of a feeling of weakness or fatigue in the body, bruises that seem abnormal, open wounds that slow very hard, bone or joint pain and even anemia.
Leukemia has been found to affect people regardless of their age, built, state of health or location. Still a greater number has been seen to appear in children, this being the more acute and faster growing type. In people over 40 the disease has a more relaxed passe, being more of a chronic illness.
Correctly diagnosing the type of leukemia that the patient is suffering from is actually crucial, determining the proper treatment being linked with this. The way in witch a treatment can be put together is very diverse. The patient may receive a combination of therapies, a bone marrow transplant, radiation therapy, chemo therapy, or even stem cell transplant.
The four types of leukemia that severely affect the human population are : acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia , acute myelogenous leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia.
By: Groshan Fabiola