Contents:
- Medical Video: Cancer Symptoms Everyone Ignores
- What is blood cancer?
- What are the types of leukemia?
- Leukemia that often occurs in children
- What causes blood cancer in children?
- What are the symptoms of blood cancer in children?
- How to treat blood cancer in children?
Medical Video: Cancer Symptoms Everyone Ignores
Cancer can attack any body organ. One of them is blood. Blood cancer is a cancer that attacks most children and adolescents. What is blood cancer? What are the types of blood cancer in children? See the explanation below.
What is blood cancer?
White blood cells are one type of blood produced in the spinal cord of the human body. White blood cells play a very important role, because they can protect the body from infection to other medical conditions that may not be detected, if still in a reasonable amount.
However, there are conditions where the spinal cord produces abnormal white blood cells, or commonly known as blood cancer (leukemia). These leukemia cells develop and grow very rapidly, exceeding the recommended amount. This condition is harmful to the body because it increases the risk of the body being exposed to other infections, as well as anemia to bleeding.
What are the types of leukemia?
Based on how fast it develops and the types of white blood cells that are attacked, leukemia is divided into several types, including:
- Acute leukemia. The cells develop very quickly until you feel the symptoms immediately. Usually experienced by children aged 3 to 5 years.
- Chronic leukemia. If the cells develop slowly and you don't feel the symptoms immediately. But because the difficulty is detected, slowly but surely, the patient's condition can suddenly deteriorate. This is because, this leukemia only causes symptoms, when the number of cells has increased in the blood.
- Lymphocytic or lymphoblastic leukemia. If the type of white blood cell that is attacked is a type of lymphocytes.
- Myelogenous leukemia. If the type of white blood cell that is attacked is a type of myelocytes.
Leukemia that often occurs in children
Unfortunately, leukemia is prone to occur at the age of children. Some types of leukemia (blood cancer) in children, among others:
- Acute lympoblastic leukemia (ALL). Three of the four cases of leukemia in children are this type of leukemia. This type usually attacks white blood cell lymphocytes. Based on data from the American Cancer Society, more than 85 percent of children with leukemia, have managed to live for 5 years after being treated.
- Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Besides ALL, this type of leukemia is also common and usually attacks myelocyte white blood cells.
- Hybrid or lineage leukemia is a leukemia with symptoms resembling ALL and AML.
- Chronic leukemia
- Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia
What causes blood cancer in children?
This is made worse by paramedics not yet known exactly what causes leukemia in this child. Some risk factors that can increase the potential of a child exposed to leukemia include:
- There are hereditary diseases such as Down syndrome.
- There is a hereditary disorder in the body's immune system.
- Have a sibling or twin with leukemia.
- History of radiation exposure, chemotherapy, high doses of benzene.
- History of the immune system such as organ transplants.
What are the symptoms of blood cancer in children?
Early detection is certainly more able to improve treatment success. Most symptoms of leukemia in children often appear when the number of white blood cells starts to support other normal cells. Common symptoms include:
- Lemas, pale
- Infection and fever
- Easy to bleed or hurt
- Bruises or bruises appear
- Pain in muscles, coughing
- Nauseous vomit
- Missing appetite
- Headache
- Shortness of breath
How to treat blood cancer in children?
New medical treatment is given if the paramedic knows the type of leukemia that attacks the child. Generally, medical treatment given to children with leukemia is chemotherapy by receiving anti-cancer drugs and radiation therapy to kill cancer cells with high-strength radiation. Spinal cord transplantation is only done if chemotherapy or radiation therapy is less effective.
