A blood test will show if there are any abnormal levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, or platelets. Your doctor may even want to do a bone marrow test.
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. Other early warning signs of leukemia include: Fever, chills. Fatigue, weakness.
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.
If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
Leukemia starts in the soft, inner part of the bones (bone marrow), but often moves quickly into the blood. It can then spread to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs.
Stage I: The patient has lymphocytosis and enlarged lymph nodes. The patient does not have an enlarged liver or spleen, anemia, or low levels of platelets. Stage II: The patient has lymphocytosis and an enlarged spleen and/or liver and may or may not have swollen lymph nodes.
Causes of leukaemia
The cause of acute leukaemia is unknown, but factors that put some people at higher risk are: exposure to intense radiation. exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene. viruses like the Human T-Cell leukaemia virus.
If acute leukemia is left untreated, a person with leukemia becomes increasingly susceptible to fatigue, excessive bleeding and infections until, finally, the body becomes virtually defenseless, making every minor injury or infection very serious. Leukemia may be fatal.
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.
People in stages 0 to II may live for 5 to 20 years without treatment. CLL has a very high incidence rate in people older than 60 years. CLL affects men more than women. If the disease has affected the B cells, the person's life expectancy can range from 10 to 20 years.
During the progression of leukemia, white blood cells (neoplastic leukocytes) found in bone marrow may begin to filter into the layers of the skin, resulting in skin lesions. “It looks like red-brown to purple firm bumps or nodules and represents the leukemia cells depositing in the skin,” Forrestel says.
Age: The risk of most leukemias increases with age. The median age of a patient diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is 65 years and older. However, most cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) occur in people under 20 years old.
Acute leukemia may cause signs and symptoms that are similar to the flu. They come on suddenly within days or weeks. Chronic leukemia often causes only a few symptoms or none at all. Signs and symptoms usually develop gradually.
While leukemia bruises can form anywhere on the body, they are most commonly found on the arms and legs.
Acute leukemia symptoms can often appear suddenly
With acute leukemia, symptoms tend to develop very quickly. You may suddenly spike a fever that won't go away, develop an infection for no apparent reason, or start bleeding spontaneously from your nose or gums and not be able to stop it.
A biopsy is used to determine the type of leukemia, the growth rate of the tumor, and whether the disease has spread. Common biopsy procedures for leukemia include: Bone marrow biopsy removes a sample of bone marrow.
Common leukemia signs and symptoms include: Fever or chills. Persistent fatigue, weakness. Frequent or severe infections.
Who gets leukemia? Although it is often thought of as a children's disease, most cases of leukemia occur in older adults. More than half of all leukemia cases occur in people over the age of 65.
Age – Generally speaking, individuals over the age of 65 are more at risk for leukemia. Demographics – While anyone can conceivably develop leukemia, white males are statistically most susceptible. Radiation exposure – Exposure to radiation from an atomic bomb increases the likelihood that leukemia cells will form.
Clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that stress-related biobehavioral factors are associated with accelerated progression of several types of cancer, including solid epithelial tumors and hematopoietic tumors such as leukemia (Antoni et al., 2006; Chida et al., 2008).