Over one million Americans in the United States are living with or have been diagnosed with leukemia. That’s a big amount of people. I chose to do my research paper on leukemia because two years ago I lost my grandma to the cancer. I wanted to know more about the disease and what was happening to her. I researched the different types, risk factors, symptoms, treatment, and what kind of research is being done to help cure leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells that start in the bone marrow. During leukemia the bone marrow starts to make a lot of abnormal white blood cells or “leukemia cells”. There are four main different types of leukemia. It is grouped by how fast it spreads and what kind of white blood cell it affects. The group of how fast leukemia spreads is either acute or chronic. Acute leukemia gets worse faster and may make a person feel sick right away. Where chronic leukemia gets worse slowly and may not cause symptoms for years. The group of what kind of blood cells leukemia affects is either lymphatic or myelogenous. Lymphatic leukemia affects white blood cells called lymphocytes. Where myelogenous leukemia affects white blood cells called myelocytes. When the two groups come together they form four main types of leukemia. They are acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Each type is different in its own way but experts still don’t know for sure what causes leukemia. Even though there are no known causes of leukemia there are still risk factors that may cause the disease. Some include large amounts of radiation, certain chemicals, down syndrome or other genetic problems, and smoking. Some types of... ... middle of paper ... ...ment. They are also trying to find new ways to improve the quality of life. Another way is by testing new targeted therapy, biological therapy, and chemotherapy. Lastly they are trying various combinations of treatment to find the perfect one that will hopefully cure leukemia forever. I chose to do my research project on leukemia because that is the type of cancer I lost my grandma to. I wanted to know more about the disease because I was confused about it and when we would talk about it I didn’t understand what everyone was saying. I learned about what leukemia is and how to treat it. I also learned what the different types of leukemia are, the risk factors, symptoms, and what research is being done to cure leukemia. I am really glad I did leukemia for my project because now I know what my grandma had to go through and kind of feel closer to her now.
Many parts and systems of the human body can be impacted by cancer. The system of blood that supplies oxygen and nutrients is one such area. Leukemia is cancer that starts in the tissue that forms blood. Most blood cells are formed in bone marrow called stem cells. Bone marrow is the soft jelly-like substance in the center of bones. Once the cell is mature, it develops into different types of blood cells, each type performs a specific task. These cells include erythrocytes also known as red blood cells and leukocytes also known as white blood cells. Leukocytes are potent infection fighters and they come in the form of B-cells, natural killer cells, helper T-cells, and cytotoxic-T cells. Adoptive cellular therapy is a treatment used to help
The public health issue the organization is working to address is to find a cure for blood cancer. At an estimated amount close to 1,012,533 people in the United States are have been diagnosed with leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma. A majority of the diagnosed are living with or are in remission. According to LLS, every four minutes someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer and approximately every 10 minutes dies from blood cancer.
Non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. Our lymphatic system helps to protect us from disease and infection and consists of: lymph nodes, plasma cells, lymphatic vessels, the spleen, thymus gland, tonsils, adenoids, bone marrow, and immunoglobulins. White blood cells called Lymphocytes, travel through the body via lymphatic vessels and help to trap and kill disease and infection. Lymphatic vessels connect to lymph glands in our bodies and collect into large ducts that empty into our blood stream. Lymphocytes enter the blood stream through these ducts. There are three main types of Lymphocytes. B lymphocytes (B cells) make antibodies in response to invading bacteria, viruses or other microbes. B lymphocytes
To understand where and how leukemia occurs it helps to know a little about the blood and lymph systems. Bone marrow is soft inner part of the bone where blood cells are formed There are three different types of major blood cells; white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. In infants active blood cells are found in almost in all bones but by the teenage years they are found in mostly flat bones (skull, shoulder blades, ribs, and pelvis) and the vertebrate. Bone marrow consist of a small number of blood stem cells, more mature blood forming cells, fat cells, and supporting tissues to help the tissue grow. They go through a series of changes to make new blood cells. With this process 1 of 3 things is made- red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets. Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to all the other parts of the body and transport carbon dioxide back to the lungs. Platelets are cell fragments made by a type of bone...
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2008, November 28). Chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from MayoClinic.com: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-lymphocytic-leukemia/DS00565
Leukemia is a form of cancer that starts in the stem cells of the bone marrow that make blood cells. A bone marrow is the material that fills the center of most bones which is where blood cells are made. Leukemia is basically a blood cancer where the cells do not form properly. Leukemia is found in blood cells and since blood cells do not have chromosomes or DNA then they cannot divide or reproduce like somatic cells do. Blood cells form in the bone marrow and when too many blood cells form in the human body then Leukemia cancer is developed. There are three different types of blood cells that increase out of control and are produced in the bone marrow which are White blood cells [leukocytes], Red blood cells [erythrocytes] and Platelets. White blood cells are part of the immune system and help fight off infections. They too aid in the curing of sores, wounds and cuts. Red blood cells hold haemoglobin which carries oxygen and takes out carbon dioxide to and from the cells throughout different organs of the body. Platelets help poke holes in the blood vessels and form clots just as blood vessels are corrupted or damaged (What is Leukemia? par. 4 & 5).
To understand the problem of cancer treatment, one has to know the history of cancer. It 's a disease that kills millions a year [sic] and a slew of hoped-for miracle treatments have gone nowhere (Begley “Could This Be the End of Cancer”). President Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971 (Begley “Curing Cancer”). This is the main reason why cancer treatment is such a huge issue today. Ever since then, scientists, doctors, researchers, and experts have been looking for “a cure” in cancer treatment. Since it is a major disease that people get as of 2010 569,490 people would have died from cancer just that year (Begley ‘Curing Cancer’). The 569,490 people dying each year changes depending on what treatment people have and how many are diagnosed each year. The rate of cancer for men and women dropped in just new cancer cases in November 2008 (Graham). Old cancer
To classify ALL, physicians used to use what is called the French-American-British (FAB) classification to divided the disease into three categories called L1, L2, or L3, based on how the leukemia cells looked under a microscope(American Cancer Society, 2013)54. This method is now a thing...
Childhood leukemia is a fast-growing cancer, most common in teens and children. It is cancer of the white blood cells. The affected cells for in the patient's bone marrow and very quickly travel through the bloodstream, attacking any healthy cells they encounter on the way. There are many things that may cause this cancer.. Some causes can be low immune system, and unhealthy environmental surroundings such as smoking. There are also some argued-about causes that are a bit on the controversial side, such as living near a nuclear power plant, or how old the patient’s mother was when they were born. The most common cause currently known is heredity.
Childhood Leukemia is a blood cancer that begins in early blood-forming cells that are in the bone marrow. It is also described into two major groups, acute (fast growing) or chronic (slow growing), but almost all childhood leukemia is acute (American cancer society ). The white blood cells help to fight infections in the immune system, but in Leukemia, the bone marrow creates abnormal white blood cells. The bone marrow is the soft material in the center of the bones. These leukemia cells do not go through the normal process of maturing. Many people may not know that the most childhood cancer that leads to deaths is childhood Leukemia. This illness is a 1 out of 3 cancer that is affecting adolescents worldwide (Key statistics).
As noted in a review of the retrieved articles, different types of medications were used as treatment for leukemia. Many research studies were conducted in order to find a way to limit the progression of leukemia. Leukemia is a rapid replication of atypical white blood cells (WBCs) that reduces the ability of WBCs to fight the infection (American Society of Hematology). Leukemia is classified into types: myeloid and lymphoid leukemia. Myeloid /lymphoid leukemia has acute and chronic phases. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an increase of myoblasts in peripheral blood or bone marrow (Kantarjian et al., 2010). This study used a comparison method to check the effect of intensive chemotherapy in older patients with AML (Kantarjian et al., 2010). Chemotherapy is a standard treatment for leukemia (Buizer et al., 2009). Older Patients with AML were excluded from the AML therapy trial (Kantarjian et al., 2010). Recently, researchers have focused on the older population with AML who received intensive chemotherapy many years ago (Kantarjian et al., 2010). Patients 65-69 years old and patients with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were included in this study (Kantarjian et al., 2010). χ2 test was involved in this research to compare between the variables (Kantarjian et al., 2010). Age was tested as continuous variables (Kantarjian et al., 2010). In addition, mortality rate...
Leukemia forms in an easy way. Leukemia is thought to form when the blood cells start to mutate in humans DNA. There might be other changes that may not have been classified yet. Certain abnormalities cause the cell to grow and divide rapidly and continue living when the other normal cells die. Over time, these abnormal cells can crowd out healthy blood cells in the bone marrow, leading to less healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. ( Mayo Clinic )
The first discovery of Leukemia was around the time in the 4th or 5th century B.C.E. by a man named John Hughes Bennett and was believed too be found in a dinosaur bone (History of Leukemia). One of the most common types back then would have been arsenic. Arsenic is a “condition caused by ingestion, absorption or inhalation of dangerous levels” (History of Leukemia). It can be found around the world in groundwater. Some of the patients symptoms may have been things like fevers, night sweats, bone pain, swelling and pain the left side, and feeling very drowsy without having a reason why. When people would get chemotherapy (drugs injected to the vein) the resistance to tolerance may have gone up. Only because the patients immune system would be involved with infections.
In fourth grade my father was diagnosed with Stage 4, Large B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and in seventh grade I lost my cousin to leukemia. After having these impacts on my life I have always desired to make a change in the world, whether it was large or small has no difference to me. If I could save just one life I would feel almost whole again. Being an Oncologist would almost be like relief, maybe even a salvation of my being. Even if I end up not finding the cure, I would still be helping those who truly needed me and I feel this is one of the only occupations that really offers me that in whole. As an Oncologist I would be able to help others like those who helped my family. Not only this, I would be able to form many undying bonds with the people who put their lives within my hands. I will treat my patients with utmost respect and encouragement showing them that if I believe that they will live, they
Blood cancer is a life-threatening disease that includes: leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma (American Society of Hematology). Leukemia is classified into myeloid and lymphoid leukemia. Each type has acute and chronic phases. Leukemia reduces the ability of white blood cells (WBCs) to fight infection (American Society of Hematology). In addition, leukemia limits the bone marrow’s ability to produce red blood cells (RBCs) (American Society of Hematology). It is one of the most common cancers in the world and can be treated by chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant.