Category Archives: Leukemia Treatment

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword and indeed it is. Now then is the keyboard and word processor mightier than cancer? It very well could be and this is why I would ask that all online article writers put in a good word for those who do research and are working on ways to cure leukemia. In fact with the right level of funding mankind could solve this problem within perhaps a decade or two.

If you have a skill of any kind shouldn’t you use it to help the common good? Shouldn’t we all work to promote the common good and remove those things, which challenge our civilization and people? We are all here for a reason and yet while we are here we can do so much more.

On one online article website there are nearly 30,000 authors, but what if everyone of them wrote one article on Leukemia next week for public awareness, then we might be able to leverage the power of the people or the power of the online writers to do some good in the World.

What would it take for you to write one more article for a special cause? Why not pick 4 special causes each month and simply write on them. That is only one per week, it will not impact your life, but it could make the difference in someone else’s. Do you see what I am writing about? Consider this in 2006.

Although there are no accurate data for concordance rates of leukemia in infant twins, anecdotally it seems to be exceptionally high, perhaps approaching one hundred percent that is, if one twin has it, unfortunately so will the other. If correct, this suggests that MLL gene fusion in utero has a dramatic impact, ensuring subsequent leukemia. But for children aged two to six years with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the concordance rate is considerably lower at around five percent. This still represents a one hundred fold extra risk of leukemia for the twin of a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia but also indicates the need for some additional postnatal event for which there is a one in twenty chance, or ninety five percent discordance. This suggests, at a minimum, a “two hit” model for the natural course of childhood leukemia.

If this model of leukemia development is correct, then, for every child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosed, there should be at least twenty healthy children who have had a chromosome translocation, a functional leukemia fusion gene, and a covert preleukaemic clone generated in utero. This possibility has been investigated by screening unselected samples of newborn cord blood for fusion genes. About six hundred samples have been screened, and around one percent have a leukemia TEL­AML1 fusion gene. This one percent represents a hundred times the cumulative rate or risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, indicating that the frequency of conversion of the preleukaemic clone to overt disease is low. The real bottleneck in development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia therefore seems to be a stringent requirement for a second “hit” after birth-that is, exposure and additional chromosomal or molecular abnormality.

A key issue to resolve is what exposures or events might precipitate the chromosome breaks whose improper repair initiates or promotes childhood leukemia. Given the biological diversity of leukemia, it is highly unlikely that there is a single cause. Even for a defined biological subtype of the disease, there probably is not one cause as such but a causal mechanism. As with other cancers, this is likely to involve an interaction of exposure, exogenous or endogenous, with inherent genetic susceptibility, and chance. Epidemiological evidence suggests that ionizing radiation; certain chemicals such as benzene, viruses, and bacteria may play a part in the development of some subtypes of leukemia and lymphoma in adults and children.
Whether any of these exposures have a major role in childhood leukemia is uncertain, but large scale case control molecular epidemiological studies in Britain and the United States may provide answers. The United Kingdom children’s cancer study (UKCCS) seeks to address several hypotheses on different exposures, combined with definition of biological subtypes of disease and genetic studies. It and a parallel US study have already ruled out electromagnetic fields as a major factor in leukemia aetiology.

Having stem cells extracted from the cord blood at birth and stored in a cord blood bank or a stem cells bank is a way to protect your child from future diseases.

It can be very useful as it contains hematopoietic stem cells, progenitor cells. The stem cells in the cord blood are mainly used to treat blood and immune system related genetic diseases, cancers and blood disorders like diabetes or leukemia.

MDS (or Myelodysplastic Syndromes) generally refer to a group of blood cancers. Other types of MDS are non-progressive and may have no definite effect on the patient’s health. While other sub-types are slow-progressive and may be related to leukemia, which will definitely have serious effects on one’s health and life expectancy.

Myleodysplastic syndromes typically affect the cell-forming activities in the bone marrow. These cells are normally developed into mature red or white blood cells and platelets before they flow out to bloodstream. Myleodysplastic syndromes prevent blood cell formation. When blast cells in the bone marrow and blood are significantly higher, but dying before or after release into the bloodstream; the non-functional cells will continuously build-up inside the bone marrow. These abnormal activities of the blood cells may develop into a disease called MDS Leukemia.

In many cases, myleodysplastic syndromes will worsen into a type of leukemia – MDS Leukemia. When blast cell occurrence is in low proportions, doctors refer to the disorder as MDS. When there are higher proportions, the condition has worsened into a cancerous stage and is referred as MDS Leukemia. Thus, MDS and Leukemia are often joined together and have same methods of treatment.

The number of new cases of MDS in the United States is unknown. However, medical reports shown that the number of MDS cases is equivalent to the number of patients suffering from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Around 12,000 people were diagnosed with AML in 2006.

AML is incurable and often found in patients 60 years of age and above; but less common in children.

Leukemia is also known as blood cancer. However, this term is a misnomer because rather than causing cancer in the blood, the cancer is caused in the bone marrow and it affects the white blood cells. These cells are responsible for fighting infections, bacteria and viruses that enter our body. Once the white blood cells are affected, our body gets weakened and is exposed to infections.

There are several types of leukemia and the treatment varies depending on the type. However, the two main types of leukemia are acute leukemia and chronic leukemia. Chronic leukemia is considered to be milder; in other words not all the white blood cells are defective and the progress of the disease is much slower than acute leukemia.

Acute leukemia advances rapidly and all the white blood cells are not normal. However, in some cases it is easier to treat than chronic leukemia.

In the United States, each year thousands of people are diagnosed with acute leukemia. However, it has been seen that a large number of children, mostly around 4 years old, are afflicted more frequently by acute leukemia. The good news is that more and more cases are being cured and there is constant research for new medication and treatment methods.

The cause of acute leukemia is unknown. The only thing that one can say for certain is that some people are at a higher risk of getting the disease than others. People who are exposed to radiations or certain chemicals have the highest chance of contracting the disease. In addition, there is the hereditary factor. It has been seen that children receive the defective gene from their mother and this gene may lead to acute leukemia.

People who have leukemia tend to bruise easily or bleed easily from the nose and gums. In addition to weak immune system, there is a general feeling of fatigue and unexplained weight loss. The disease by itself does not have any specific symptoms.