Blood cancer.

Blood cancer (or leukemia) is a form of cancer of the blood cells. In the classification, all leukemias are subdivided depending on which cells are involved in the malignant process. In addition, they are subdivided according to the rate of development, as well as the degree of manifestation of changes in the leukocyte formula.

Predominantly, blood cancer develops in the elderly, as well as in children up to five to seven years. Often, leukemia can develop under harmful conditions of work of an employee, especially when exposed to ionizing radiation. In addition, doctors found that smoking leads to an increased risk of developing blood cancer. Speaking about alcohol and smoking, it is worth noting that both of these factors increase the risk of oncology development due to their mutagenic effect on the cells of the human body.

The main causes of the development of blood cancer: work with sources of ionizing radiation (that is, the effect of radiation on workers), the impact on the body of mutagenic substances (alcohol, some chemical solvents, nicotine, some pharmaceutical preparations), some genetic pathologies, and viruses leading to Inadequate degeneration of blood cells.

Like all cancer , blood cancer is characterized by the presence of common symptoms: weakness, joint pain and increased bleeding, weight loss, nausea, absent-mindedness, abdominal pain, possible rash and lymph gland enlargement.

The blood test for blood cancer is the main method of diagnosis. In case of suspicion of leukemia, the patient is assigned an additional (and extremely informative) diagnostic procedure - puncture of the bone marrow. For this, a puncture in the ilium or bone of the sternum is performed, and diagnostic material is taken. If cancer cells are detected in this sample, appropriate treatment is prescribed in accordance with the clinical picture and the features of the course of the disease.

The tactics of treating chronic leukemia are supportive-expectant, its goal is to maximize the duration of remission and to prevent the development of complications. As for acute leukemia, it needs treatment from the stage of diagnosis. Treatment of acute leukemia consists in suppressing the immune system of the human body through irradiation and chemotherapy and creating a period of remission. After the patient becomes stable, it is possible to begin donor bone marrow transplantation.

A distinctive feature of the therapy of this disease - the less the patient's age, the better the treatment is. In children, the treatment of blood cancer almost in ninety percent of cases ends with remission. But in adults, this indicator is an order of magnitude lower - only fifteen to twenty percent. The lowest percentage of the success of the therapy is typical for men in the age group "over fifty".

There are a large number of varieties of leukemia, each of them has its own characteristics of the clinical picture and symptoms. For each species there is a certain therapy. General in therapy is only an integrated approach. The most commonly used pharmacotherapy (chemotherapy), as well as cytotoxic and hormonal drugs (in particular - glucocorticosteroids).

Thus, blood cancer, being one of the malignant diseases of human organs and systems, requires special attention due to a serious prognosis of this disease. Proceeding from the fact that during the early therapy the prognosis is quite favorable, special attention is paid in modern medicine to modern, fast and reliable methods of diagnosing malignant tumors, with the purpose of early detection of this group of pathology.