The effect that leukemia has on us as humans is very great. Not only that it affects us physically but also mentally. The fact is that families of those who are sick also feel the pain of their loved ones, sometimes even more. It has been estimated that some 27 000 people are diagnosed with leukemia each year.
Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects both the blood and the bone marrow of the person that gets ill. We all know what the bone marrow is: it is the sponge like substance in our bones that makes the 3 most important types of cells that a human has in its blood, and those cells are: the white blood cells ( the infantry of the body that fights of diseases and viruses), the platelets ( they are the ones responsible for making the blood clot when it gets in contact with the air) and the red blood cells ( to carry the much needed oxygen and nutrients to the organs and other parts of the body). The bone marrow also produces blasts ( immature cells) but this happens only in cases like leukemia and other cancers. As said before, in the case of leukemia the blasts will not develop completely or even worse they might mature but mature the wrong way.
Leukemia has four major types, and this are created depending on the type of cells that are affected by the disorder. This way the patient may develop: acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), each of them being very dangerous. Again we can divide this 4 types into two categories: acute leukemia and chronic leukemia.
In the case of acute leukemia we see the disease spreading very quickly through out the body of the victim, because of the immature blasts that start replacing normal healthy cells in the blood and the bone marrow. After a period when their numbers reach very high levels, the bone marrow loses its ability of producing normal red and white cells and of course platelets. Because of this the patient becomes anemic and the risk of infection goes through the ruff. Too many platelets in the blood may act exactly the other way they should be: instead of making the blood clot, they make bleeding very easily.
While the acute leukemia tends to act very fast , chronic leukemia grows slowly making mature-looking cancer cells a very common site in the patient. Symptoms differ a lot from acute leukemia and so does the treatment.
By: Groshan Fabiola