All About Leukemia

Leukemia treatment is approached in several ways. The decision on which approach to take is affected by various factors such as age and health condition of the patient, stage of illness, and the type of leukemia.

Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells with anti-cancer drugs. This involves the injection of drugs to the patient either while confined in the hospital or as an out-patient. Often, the patient experiences nausea and fatigue that lasts up to several hours after a chemotherapy session.

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In the US, approximately 600 teens between ages 15 and 19 are diagnosed with cancer. The most common cancers in teens are Hodgkin’s disease, germ cell tumors, central-nervous system tumors, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, thyroid cancer, malignant melanoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It was shown that teeners and young adults that participate in pediatric clinical trials have better survival rates than those treated at adult centers.

For teen-agers, facing cancer is more challenging because they are aware of the fact that the disease may lead to death. Teeners become more depressed and lonely, plus the fact that teeners experience psychological challenges such as identity crisis, peer pressure, intimacy and fertility.

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Cancer support groups orgs for teens:
Teenage Cancer Trust
Group Loop
Teens Living with Cancer
Planet Cancer

Stem cells for transplant are sourced from the patient himself, or from a donor. Peripheral blood stem cells are collected through a process called apheresis, where the blood is taken from the donor through a needle in one arm, then is placed in a machine that separates the white blood cells from the red blood cells. Only the white blood cells are needed by the patient, so the red blood cells are returned to the donor. Daily injections of Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor helps the transplanted stem cells to move to the peripheral circulation.

Umbilical cord blood can be taken from a new born’s umbilical cord if the parents allow it. This is then frozen and stored for future use.

Once the patient decides to undergo a bone marrow transplant, preparations should be done to make sure that the operation will become a success. The patient should be healthy enough prior to the operation. Several tests will be done on the patient’s organs as a basis after the transplant, whether the organs are affected by the operation. The transplant will be taken care of a team of medical practitioners, before, during and after the procedure. They will follow a program developed for the patient, and it includes emotional and psychological support for the patient and the family. The team of practitioners also develops several scenarios and the steps to be taken if any trouble arises.

In Ayurveda, Leukemia is viewed as an imbalance which results from the failure of the digestive system. The food is not ingested and broken down properly. This creates a poisonous slime which circulates in the body and kills the healthy parts in it. To remedy this, the three elements of vata, pitta and kapha present in the body must be rebalanced. This can be done through a balanced diet. Eating raw fruit and vegetables purifies the toxins in the digestive system. Also, a relaxed lifestyle will do wonders, along with proper sleep and exercise. By doing these, the toxins will be removed, the balance restored and positive energies are freer to heal the body.

Both sides has its good and bad sides. Conventional treatments are tried and tested by different hospitals on may patients therefore there is a degree of certainty on methods and results. However there are many side-effects to these kinds of treatment that until now is not yet fully remedied. Alternative treatments are currently untestable and there are no guarantees to the effectivity of the methods. However these are mostly harmless and they make use of natural substances. A combination of methods may be used but make sure that one method doesn’t affect the other negatively. Know the side-effects of these and the precautionary measures you must take in order to get the best results.

As expected from the budding stem cell research facilities worldwide, new insight into the ways which cells function and react to environmental stimuli is giving more surprising results such as in the case of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a highly progressive form of leukemia that defies most of the common treatments used for diseases of the blood. They have found clues to the mechanisms and are trying to find ways of applying the things learned from cancerous stem cells that have given light to a lot of new avenues to pursue such as why the form of leukemia resists common treatment regimens. Anti-bodies that were isolated allows a more targeted approach to AML that may hold better clues to the future of many AML sufferers the world over.

Trimming down on fat is an effective way of ensuring the success of bone marrow transplant according to researchers. It was found that fat accumulates in the bone marrow and inhibits their blood generating capabilities by a huge degree. Lessened blood production ability results in a higher failure rate of marrow transplants due to the lower blood production abilities of the body’s own blood factory. Lessening fat, which circulates all over he body and settles on organs including the bone marrow is a better way of managing and treating the disease that afflicts more people each year. Obesity is a growing problem in society and it complicates the treatment of many more diseases that relies heavily on the blood and the body’s regeneration abilities.

A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, Mitoxantrone an immunosuppressant has been found to heighten the risks of contracting leukemia as a side effect. The drug has been approved by the FDA and the side-effect is due to new research onto the interaction of the drug and the body’s response to it. High dosage of the drug has also been found to cause a lot of heart disease and can even cause irreversible heart damage according to the latest data from research.

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Military personnel and people who work with radioactive compounds each and every day accept the fact that leukemia, often a risk of their jobs. New research in the use and administration of biphosphates to counteract the effects of radiation induced leukemia is proving promising to help reduce job related-risks for such people. People who work in space line astronauts of the many space agencies worldwide are also at risk of high exposure to radiation from space being out of the earth’s protective atmosphere which protects most of us here on the earth’s surface. Synthesized into chemopreventive medication they are proving effective in initial trials. They have been found to have the uncanny ability to remove uranium from the body which would be quite useful for people who handle and use radioactive munitions.

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