Cancer To The Blood: Leukemia

The leukemia is a type of cancer in the blood that until some years ago was synonymous of death, and that was still more tragic if it affected a boy. Today this situation has changed, because the new treatments allow eradicating it in most of the cases and of offering ample perspective of life.

The leukemia is the most frequent cancer in children. The panorama shines devastating, but it must to diverse variables that can be modified: lack of opportune diagnosis, abandonment of treatments or disinformation. In counterpart, in agreement with numbers reported in the entire world, between 75 and 85% of the treated cases they are solved by complete.

The infantile leukemia is a type of cancer that originates in the bony marrow or spongy weave del center of the bones, place where the cells that conform the blood, like platelets take place (the ones in charge of the coagulation), erythrocytes (red globules, that transport oxygen), and leukocytes (white globules, cells of defense).

This disease, generally must to the production of great amounts of immature leukocytes (blastos), without still we know why, which have the capacity to reproduce quickly, to get up themselves to the blood and to invade other organs, like brain, liver or bones. It is a disease that if it does not treat in the initial stages causes the death of the boy by a complete invasion of these immature or abnormal cells.

In agreement with the specialists, this is the form commonest of the suffering, and linfoblastica leukemia is denominated; however, when it must to other cells, it is called no linfoblastica. This type of cancer also affects directly the production of normal sanguineous cells, with different consequences; for example, little amount of red globules can produce anemia, low amount of normal white globules prevents to fight against infections, and lacks of platelets can cause bled.

At the moment there is no an identified cause that determines cancer or leukemia in children. It is not like in the adults, in where it is related that to smoke it predetermines lung cancer; in these diseases in children we do not know a cause direct that can explain it, only done related.

Although its possible hereditary origin has studied, does not exist anything verified. One has seen that young with syndrome of Down they have 15 times more probability of suffering leukemia that the rest of the infantile population, but this either does not mean that they are going to present/display the disease unavoidably; but they have greater risk.

The infantile leukemia appears between the 2 and 10 years of age, although also it can appear in new born and the adolescent ones. For that reason pediatric for, possibly, discovering opportunely this or other diseases is recommendable to make periodic visits to the doctor and acting on time to avoid its advance.

A family father can suspect this badly, if he appreciates that the boy lets make his activities normal and he is decayed, he gets tired easily, he presents/displays prolonged fever that are not controlled with medicines nor must to an infection, is pallor or he costs work to him to breathe, and he presents/displays inflammation of ganglia in neck, armpits or ingles.

If this got to happen, it will be necessary to go to the doctor pediatric to make one more a revision more careful than it includes exploration of liver and spleen (organ that part of the located immune system in the superior part of the abdominal cavity forms). Of being necessary, laboratory studies will have to practice. The first analysis that is made to discard possible leukemia is a hemática biometry or analysis of blood to know their components and amounts.

When it arises the suspicion is because the lymphocytes, which they are the abnormal cells, are very numerous, simultaneously that is diminution of platelets and erythrocytes. After this first approach a much more precise diagnosis is made aspired of bony marrow that it consists of extracting a little blood directly of the bone to observe it the microscope and to make counts.

If the result is leukemia, it always resorts to a specialist in Oncology or Hematology’s Pediatric, in order to initiate a treatment with medicines or chemotherapy and, depending on the case or type of leukemia, can be resorted to radiations (x-ray). The children cure themselves.

But the fame of which the affected adult population of cancer passes away, in small the leukemia is had is considered cured after 2 or 3 years of treatment and after four years of monitoring. The patients must follow under observation, with the purpose of which the specialist takes part if difficulties appear, like problems of growth, hormonal, or indirect effect of the chemotherapy that can originate a second cancer in the long term.

The family parents do not have to think that the leukemia is incurable; it is an important disease, like all cancer, and the chemotherapy also has its risks, but in children great percentage is cured. The ideal is to detect it of early way, to follow a treatment, and although he is aggressive at first, is great possibility of a favorable resolution.

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