BLOOD CANCER

Blood Cancer

Blood Cancer

Introduction

In medical terms, blood cancer is known as Leukemia. Blood cancer is the cancer of blood cells. There are different types of Leukemia, which are grouped by the type of cells they affect and the extent to which the cancer cells develop. The cancer cells usually attack lymphocyctes or myelocytes.

Lymphocyctes are bone marrow cells which form white blood cells, playing a significant part in the body immune system, whereas, myelocyctes are bone marrow cells which forms the red blood cells, platelets and some white blood cells.

Types of Blood Cancer

There are four types of blood cancers including; Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), Acute Myelocytic Leukemia (AML), and Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia (CML). In acute leukemia, immature blood cells form cells which are trillions in count and crowd over the normal blood cells, restricting their function in the bone marrow. As a result, the count of red blood cells drops and patient suffers from anemia.

On the other hand, in CML, white cells increase in number and continue to increase at a very high speed, which as a result slows down the flow of blood, resulting in severe anemia, if not treated. Similarly, In CLL, a large number of non-functioning lymphocytes (leukemia cells) is formed, which in turn weakens the immune system and reduces the number of red blood cells. However, CLL is not considered to be a deadly disease and the patients suffering from it may remain in good health (Seattle Cancer Care, 2011).

Discussion

Risk factors

Doctors have not identified any confirmed causes of blood cancer and the phenomenon behind one person getting Leukemia and the other does not, remains a question so far. However, some researchers have identified several risk factors which increase the chances of getting Leukemia. The risk factors are follows:

Radiation: People who are exposed ...