Leukemia is a type of cancer, while anemia is a blood disorder. Leukemia can affect all types of blood cells, while anemia affects red blood cells. Anemia can be caused by a deficiency in iron or vitamin B12, chronic diseases, and inherited blood disorders.
While anemia and leukemia are very different conditions, they share a core similarity: they both affect the blood. But leukemia is a cancer, which involves unchecked cell growth. In contrast, anemia involves a lack of red blood cells. That said, leukemia does remain a risk factor for anemia.
Abstract. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause profound alterations in the bone marrow. These alterations can mimic the more serious diagnosis of acute leukemia.
Not everyone with cancer has anemia or will develop it. In fact, anemia is more likely to be caused by other factors than cancer, say specialists. Cancers that involve the bone marrow, like leukemia or lymphoma, can cause anemia because red blood cells are produced in the marrow.
Anemia is often one of the first signs of cancer, especially colon cancer or blood-related cancer such as leukemia or lymphoma. If you have anemia without a known cause (such as heavy menstrual bleeding), your healthcare provider may talk to you about screening for colon cancer or other tests.
The cancers most closely associated with anemia are: Cancers that involve the bone marrow. Blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma interfere with or destroy the marrow's ability to make healthy blood cells. Other cancers that spread to the bone marrow can also cause anemia.
Your body needs iron to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein that gives the red color to blood. It carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Anemia has three main causes: blood loss, lack of red blood cell production, and high rates of red blood cell destruction.
Your doctor will conduct a complete blood count (CBC) to determine if you have leukemia. This test may reveal if you have leukemic cells. Abnormal levels of white blood cells and abnormally low red blood cell or platelet counts can also indicate leukemia.
How is leukemia diagnosed? A diagnosis of leukemia is usually made by analyzing a patient's blood sample through a complete blood count (CBC) or microscopic evaluation of the blood, or by using flow cytometry.
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.
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.
Cancers Linked to Anemia
Leukemia and lymphoma are cancers that affect your bone marrow. That's where all your blood cells come from. These conditions disrupt your body's process for making red blood cells.
While leukemia bruises can form anywhere on the body, they are most commonly found on the arms and legs.
If you suspect you might have an anemic disorder, check yourself for the following symptoms and call your doctor for further advice. A sudden lack of energy and chronic fatigue are warning signs that you might be lacking enough iron.
If you have anemia, your body does not get enough oxygen-rich blood. The lack of oxygen can make you feel tired or weak. You may also have shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, or an irregular heartbeat.
Foods to avoid
milk and some dairy products. foods that contain tannins, such as grapes, corn, and sorghum. foods that contain phytates or phytic acid, such as brown rice and whole-grain wheat products. foods that contain oxalic acid, such as peanuts, parsley, and chocolate.
The most common cause of anemia worldwide is iron deficiency. Iron is needed to form hemoglobin, part of red blood cells that carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from the body. Iron is mostly stored in the body in the hemoglobin.
Iron deficiency anemia.
Too little iron in the body causes this most common type of anemia. Bone marrow needs iron to make hemoglobin. Without enough iron, the body can't make enough hemoglobin for red blood cells.
The last stage is iron deficiency anemia. It is characterized by a low hemoglobin concentration with small (microcytic), pale (hypochromic) RBCs. Symptoms include fatigue upon exertion, weakness, headaches, apathy, pallor, poor resistance to cold temperatures, low physical work capacity, and poor immune function.
Anemia is a common condition of cancer patients. This is because cancers cause inflammation that decrease red blood cell production. In addition, many chemotherapies are myelosuppressive, meaning they slow down the production of new blood cells by the bone marrow. In other cases, anemia is caused by kidney disease.
The connection between low iron, body weight, and hemoglobin is apparent when low energy makes exercising and burning calories difficult, causing weight gain. Conversely, iron deficiency anemia may contribute to decreased appetite, resulting in weight loss.
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.