Platelets are small cell fragments that flow through the blood and are responsible for causing blood to clot after you injure yourself. Therefore, if you have leukaemia, you are more likely to bruise because your body is unable to produce enough platelets to plug up your bleeding blood vessels.
Most common symptoms of leukemia
If your white blood cells are low, you lose the ability to fight infections and get sick more often. When the platelets are involved, this affects your clotting ability and will result in bruising and bleeding more easily.
People who have leukemia tend to bruise more easily because their bodies don't produce enough platelets to clot damaged blood vessels effectively. Decreased number of platelets causes bruises resulting from a lighter touch or an impact that does not make sense for the number or severity of the bruises.
Lumps, bruises and other skin changes
Stapel calls a “big category” for signs of cancer. “If there is any easy bruising or new bleeding and you're not on blood thinners, that's something to monitor,” Dr. Stapel said. “You may just see red specks, not even full-on bruise.
Some signs of leukemia, like night sweats, fever, fatigue and achiness, resemble flu-like symptoms. Unlike symptoms of the flu, which generally subside as patients get better, leukemia symptoms generally last longer than two weeks, and may include sudden weight loss, bone and joint pain and easy bleeding or bruising.
While leukemia bruises can form anywhere on the body, they are most commonly found on the arms and legs.
Blood tests.
By looking at a sample of your blood, your doctor can determine if you have abnormal levels of red or white blood cells or platelets — which may suggest leukemia. A blood test may also show the presence of leukemia cells, though not all types of leukemia cause the leukemia cells to circulate in the blood.
Common signs and symptoms of leukemia include: Fatigue, tiring easily. Fever or night sweats. Frequent infections.
Stage 1 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and enlarged lymph nodes. Stage 2 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and is anemic. He or she may also have enlarged lymph nodes. Stage 3 – A patient has high levels of white blood cells and is anemic.
Chronic Leukemia May Go Undetected
It may take months or even several years before the disease begins to cause symptoms that alert the patient that something is wrong.
When is a patient tested for leukemia? "A patient may be tested for leukemia if he or she has unexplained weight loss, night sweats or fatigue, or if he or she bruises or bleeds easily," Dr. Siddon says. "Sometimes routine blood work shows an unexplained elevated number of white blood cells."
Easy bruising sometimes indicates a serious underlying condition, such as a blood-clotting problem or a blood disease. See your health care provider if you: Have frequent, large bruises, especially if your bruises appear on your trunk, back or face or seem to develop for no known reasons.
Small, pinhead-sized red spots on the skin (called “petechiae”) may be a sign of leukaemia. These small red spots are actually very small bruises that cluster so that they look like a rash.
If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
Leukemia symptoms commonly include fatigue, breathlessness, infections, and bruising or bleeding more easily. Leukemia* symptoms vary depending on the type of leukemia. Not everyone gets the same symptoms, and you won't necessarily have all of the symptoms. Most people with these symptoms won't have leukemia.
Increased size or density. Lump under the bruise. Pain that lasts longer than 2-3 days. Persistent bruising for more than 2 weeks.
These bruises are different from the ones we're used to seeing: they might be much darker red or purple and could be irregularly shaped. Bruises that could indicate cancer might also appear on parts of the body where bruises wouldn't normally occur, like on the head, face, thighs or back, Dr. Wang says.
Vitamin K Deficiency
Vitamin K may not get as much attention as some other vitamins. But it plays an important role in blood clotting. If you don't get enough vitamin K, you could get more bruises. Still, most healthy adults get enough of this vitamin from foods like leafy green vegetables.
On black and brown skin petechiae and purpura typically look purple or darker than the surrounding skin and on lighter skin they tend to show as red or purple. You may have bleeding from your nose or gums, prolonged bleeding from a cut, heavy periods, or blood in your urine or poo.
Blood tests are essential to accurate diagnosis of this complex disease. These tests can show whether you have leukemia cells or abnormal levels of normal cells: Blood smear: With this test, we take a drop of blood and look at it under a microscope.
A complete blood count (CBC) is a common medical test that your doctor may recommend to monitor your health. In cancer care, this blood test can be used to help diagnose a cancer or monitor how cancer or its treatment is affecting your body.