Cancer in children quite often arises the form of Leukemia, a cancer of the blood which commences in the bone marrow. Leukemia hits upwards of 3,500 children yearly in the United States and makes up about around one third of all childhood forms of cancer. The great news is the fact that leukemia in children is very treatable and, with proper long-term treatment, there is a very good remission rate in most cases. A leukemia diagnosis for your child is not an automatic death sentence.
The commonest form of leukemia in children is ALL or perhaps acute lymphocytic leukemia. This cancer typically affects children between the ages of two and four. Acute myelogenous leukemia, AML, is the second most common types of leukemia in children d3and is generally in evidence by the age of two years. This leukemia AML children is likewise seen in teens and adults.
So as to understand leukemia, you need to know the way the body produces blood. Blood cells are manufactured in the marrow of the long bones of the body - leg and arm bones, for example. In the marrow, three types of blood cells are created, each with its own job to conduct. The red blood cells bear oxygen to the other cells in the body, white blood cells which fight infection and platelets whose task it is to prevent bleeding and signal clotting. When leukemia is present, the bone marrow begins to make erroneous white blood cells which do not work correctly. Instead of stopping production of white blood cells when there are lots of the cells present in the body, these defective cells always reproduce themselves incessantly - they grow up like weeds and crowd out the other blood cells.
At these times, children begin to experience leukemia symptoms some of which are bleeding and bruising, recurrent infections, bone and joint pain, abdominal discomfort, swollen lymph nodes and anemia.
There are lots of tests your doctor may order so he or she may diagnose the problem, any one of them: blood tests, bone marrow biopsy, CT Scan, MRI, X-Ray, ultrasound, lymph node biopsy, and/or a spinal tap. A few or all of these tests will be used to find out the level of the disease and will be utilized to dictate the treatment best suited for your child's disease. This treatment comes in three phases, the induction phase where extreme treatment will be administered in order to stop the production of defective cells. In the intensification or consolidation phase treatment is applied even though the cancer cells may no longer be evident. Finally, there is the maintenance phase wherein less intensive chemotherapy or radiation is given over a period of months or even years to sustain the cancer-free bone marrow. This last phase is used for ALL, but not normally part of the treatment for AML (acute myelogenous leukemia.)
Fairly little is known about the causes of leukemia in children. The majority of these diseases are not genetic disorders passed down from a parent but rather erratic gene mutations and chromosome abnormalities which build leukemia in children symptoms. There is evidence that damage to or modification in the immune system may be linked to these and other cancers. Subjection to certain chemicals, excessive radiation, environmental factors, contact with particular viruses and infections can cause damage to the immune system and may be variables in the onset of childhood leukemia.
There are a number of treatments doctors may select and use for leukemia in children treatment including chemotherapy, spinal cord injections (also a form of chemotherapy,) radiation therapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, blood transfusions.
The commonest form of leukemia in children is ALL or perhaps acute lymphocytic leukemia. This cancer typically affects children between the ages of two and four. Acute myelogenous leukemia, AML, is the second most common types of leukemia in children d3and is generally in evidence by the age of two years. This leukemia AML children is likewise seen in teens and adults.
So as to understand leukemia, you need to know the way the body produces blood. Blood cells are manufactured in the marrow of the long bones of the body - leg and arm bones, for example. In the marrow, three types of blood cells are created, each with its own job to conduct. The red blood cells bear oxygen to the other cells in the body, white blood cells which fight infection and platelets whose task it is to prevent bleeding and signal clotting. When leukemia is present, the bone marrow begins to make erroneous white blood cells which do not work correctly. Instead of stopping production of white blood cells when there are lots of the cells present in the body, these defective cells always reproduce themselves incessantly - they grow up like weeds and crowd out the other blood cells.
At these times, children begin to experience leukemia symptoms some of which are bleeding and bruising, recurrent infections, bone and joint pain, abdominal discomfort, swollen lymph nodes and anemia.
There are lots of tests your doctor may order so he or she may diagnose the problem, any one of them: blood tests, bone marrow biopsy, CT Scan, MRI, X-Ray, ultrasound, lymph node biopsy, and/or a spinal tap. A few or all of these tests will be used to find out the level of the disease and will be utilized to dictate the treatment best suited for your child's disease. This treatment comes in three phases, the induction phase where extreme treatment will be administered in order to stop the production of defective cells. In the intensification or consolidation phase treatment is applied even though the cancer cells may no longer be evident. Finally, there is the maintenance phase wherein less intensive chemotherapy or radiation is given over a period of months or even years to sustain the cancer-free bone marrow. This last phase is used for ALL, but not normally part of the treatment for AML (acute myelogenous leukemia.)
Fairly little is known about the causes of leukemia in children. The majority of these diseases are not genetic disorders passed down from a parent but rather erratic gene mutations and chromosome abnormalities which build leukemia in children symptoms. There is evidence that damage to or modification in the immune system may be linked to these and other cancers. Subjection to certain chemicals, excessive radiation, environmental factors, contact with particular viruses and infections can cause damage to the immune system and may be variables in the onset of childhood leukemia.
There are a number of treatments doctors may select and use for leukemia in children treatment including chemotherapy, spinal cord injections (also a form of chemotherapy,) radiation therapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, blood transfusions.
