Comparison Between Leukemia And Lymphoma

Leukemia Everyone has heard of cancer. You should also know that you don’t want it. Do you know why you don’t want it? Exactly, cancer is bad.

Leukemia is a disease that can cause death. Leukemia is defined as the type of cancer in the blood cells that causes the cells to work improperly, usually affecting the white blood cells. It occurs when an abnormal increase of immature blood cell is produced compared to mature blood cell. Large numbers of abnormal blood cells produced caused the bone marrow to contain more abnormal cell, thus causing difficulties for normal cell to survive. This disease spread among the cells without control and can cause a major death to the patients. The type of leukemia and the age of the patient affect the survival rates for individuals with leukemia (Bozzone, 2009). The improvement survival rates through chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation, the more long term illness must be handled by the patients relating to the treatment-related diseases (Agarwal & Thomas, 2008). In general, Leukemia can be described in three major categories which are type of leukemia, symptoms of leukemia and treatments (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

Living with Leukemia Nicovia Rudolph Anatomy & Physiology Doris Wilderman May 24, 2014 Explanation of Leukemia Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and blood cells. The lymphatic system is connected to your circulatory system and is important. It is important because its role is to protect your body from infection and maintaining a stable fluid level in the body. Leukemia affects your body because it causes problems with your immunity.

Every four minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. It was first discovered in France, in 1827 when a physician by the name of Alfred Velpeau found that a man died of the mysterious disease. When an autopsy was performed on the patient who had suffered from fever, pain, weakness, and constant headaches, he was found to have a spleen that weighed almost ten pounds. While, the normal weight of a spleen is a little under a pound. The patient was also described as having “puss-filled blood”. Later, in approximately 1839 French physicians noted that the “puss-filled blood” was actually the accumulation of many white blood cells in the system. In 1845, a German pathologist by the name of Rudolph Virchow saw instances of the disease and described it as an imbalance between the white blood cells and the red blood cells. It wasn’t until 1847 that a name was finally given to this malignant type of cancer- leukemia. Currently, Leukemia serves as the leading diagnosed cancer in children, accounting for almost thirty percent of all cases.

What is Leukemia? Leukemia is a cancer in blood forming cells that are in early stages of development. Most of the time the white blood cells, but some types of leukemia start in other types of blood cells. Blood cells are form in bone marrow. Any of these cells can turn into a leukemia cell, once this happens the cell does not mature like it should. The cell may start to produce rapidly and the mutated cells probably won’t go through apoptosis like they should. These cells build up in the bone marrow and crowd out the healthy cells. Typically, leukemia cells get into the blood stream rather quickly. From the blood stream they can spread to places like lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system or other organs where the leukemia cells can cause those other cells to function irregularly.

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).

Leukemia is mainly the disease of white blood cells. White blood cells are potent infection fighters — they normally grow and divide whenever the body needs them to. But in people with leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells which have different shape and increase in there number, which don't function properly.

White blood cells are the body's foot soldiers in its everyday battle against infections and diseases. Even when we are feeling well, they are working together in a carefully orchestrated manner to target and destroy dangerous substances in our body. Any disease that prevents the white blood cells from doing their job puts us at great risk for infection and illness. Leukemia is that kind of disease. It happens when our body's system for making white blood cells malfunctions, resulting in the uncontrolled production of abnormal white blood cells that cannot protect us against disease. If left untreated, leukemia can cause death in a matter of months. Simply put, leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells. It usually involves the white blood cells, but in rare cases involves the red blood cells and platelets as well. The disease originates in the bone marrow. Like all cancers, it is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. When these defective cells accumulate in the bone marrow where they are produced, it inhibits the production of blood cells of every kind. All blood cells pass through many stages on their way to complete maturity, beginning within the bone marrow as immature cells called blasts. Leukemia can occur at any of these stages of development, affecting one of the two major categories of white blood cells: lymphoid cells or myeloid cells. According to J. Gordon McVie author of "Cancer Treatment: The Last 25 Years," states that each year, nearly 27,000 adults and more than 2,000 children in the United States learn that they have leukemia. It affects 13.2 per 100,000 men and 7.7 per 100,000 women in the United States. Chronic leukemia comprises 35% to 50%...

Essentially, the scientists do not comprehend what causes leukemia. However, the National Cancer Institute cites the combination of environmental factors and genetic mutations as probable causes. The research experts at NCI classify leukemia on the basis of the type of cells convoluted and its speed of advancement. The first case of classification relies on how first the disease develops, and thi...

No matter who it happens to, any type of cancer is heart breaking. However, one’s heart seems to crack a little bit deeper when you hear a child has been diagnosed. Several forms of cancer can arise during childhood. The most common is called acute lymphoblastic/lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). In fact, it is so common between the ages 0-14, that people refer to it as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Kanwar, 2013).