Chronic leukemia: symptoms, diagnosis and treatment

Acute and chronic leukemia refers to malignant tumors of the hematopoietic system. If a sharp tumor growth of undifferentiated cells has begun, then this is an acute form of the disease, and chronic is diagnosed when cancer cells are exposed to immature hematopoiesis. This type is characterized mainly by slow flow and is more common in the elderly. For several years, a benign course of the disease is possible. During this period, the number of neutrophilic leukocytes or lymphocytes increases in blood, depending on the type of leukemia. Leukemia infiltration affects the bone marrow, lymph nodes, kidneys, myocardium and blood vessels, in which leukemic rhinestones and thrombi can result, leading to heart attacks. At a time when the benign course of chronic leukemia is replaced by a malignant, bled forms of cells (lymphoblasts, myeloblasts, erythroblasts) appear in the blood-forming organs, blood and tissues, the number of which is rapidly growing. Also, the number of leukocytes in the peripheral blood is rapidly increasing. There comes a blast crisis, which often leads to the death of patients, but most often patients die from infectious complications.

Chronic leukemia disrupts the normal synthesis of immunoglobulins, leads to a sharp suppression of the immune system, resulting in a secondary infection, which is often the cause of death of patients.

Symptoms of the early stages of the disease are so poorly expressed that you can write off them for normal fatigue, accompanied by weakness, discomfort due to stressful situations, fatigue at work, etc. In the future, infectious diseases may become more frequent, the reason of which is a decrease in immunity. All these symptoms are so common that chronic leukemia can remain undiagnosed for a long time.

When diagnosing this disease, you should not self-medicate! You can only pay special attention to maintaining the protective functions of the body, increasing immunity and minimizing stressful situations. With proper organization of the regimen, healthy diet, the disease may not manifest itself for a long period, and the general condition and ability to work for a long time remain normal.

Chronic leukemia is diagnosed with a general and biochemical blood test. After confirmation of the disease, bone marrow puncture is performed.

An effective treatment is antitumor chemotherapy and radiation therapy. If the outcome is successful, the disease can go into remission, the symptoms disappear, and the patient can return to normal life. With chronic myeloid leukemia, bone marrow transplantation is effective . At the same time, first all of its cells are destroyed by radiation therapy, and then restored by transplant from the donor.

Modern medicine is difficult to say exactly why a person has such a serious illness as chronic leukemia, but according to leading experts, there are some factors that may affect the appearance of the disease:

• Presence of hereditary chromosomal defects;
• Impact on the body of radiation;
• The effect of chemical factors (abuse of drugs in the treatment of other cancers);
• Frequent infectious viral diseases (chronic lymphocytic leukemia may develop).

Everyone should be responsible for their own health and life. Timely access to a doctor and the passage of regular medical examinations will allow to identify at the early stages of various diseases, which increases the chances of a successful cure.