Blood Cancer
What is Blood
Cancer?
Leukemia, Lymphoma and Blood Diseases:
The major forms of blood cancer are lymphoma, leukemia
and multiple myeloma. These cancers are formed either in the bone marrow
or the lymphatic
tissues of the body they affect the way your body makes blood and provides
immunity from other
diseases. The actual causes of blood cancer are still unknown. Scientists
are trying to identify
when and why the body starts producing abnormal cells and how those cells
begin invading the
body's blood system.
Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all organs of the body, helps in
healing, and fights viruses,
bacteria and other foreign material in the body. Blood is composed of:
1. Plasma, the watery, yellowish fluid in which the blood cells are
suspended and move through
veins and arteries of the body.
2. Red blood cells, which contain hemoglobin, a body protein that carries
oxygen to body tissues.
3. Platelets, the smallest cells that are responsible for clotting.
4. White blood cells (leukocytes), which protect the body from disease and
infection.
Leukemia and Other Blood Cancers: Symptoms,
Diagnosis and Treatment: Several
blood cancers and blood disorders have been linked to work related
exposure to benzene
and other toxic solvents and chemicals, including acute myelogenous
leukemia (AML), chronic
myelogenous leukemia (CML), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), multiple
myeloma, myelodysplastic
syndrome (MDS), and aplastic anemia, among others. Acute Myeloid
(Myelogenous) Leukemia
(AML) is a type of blood cancer in which a type of white blood cells known
as “myeloid cells”
become cancerous. Healthy myeloid cells are important for killing
bacteria. In cases of acute
myeloid or myelogenous leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal blood
cells called
“myeloblasts.” This form of leukemia interferes with the normal function
of the bone marrow by
replacing normal blood cells with leukemia cells. When the abnormal
“blast” cells grow out of
control, the production of normal blood marrow cells is inhibited, causing
a deficiency of red blood
cells, normal white blood cells, and platelets. This can lead to such
effects as anemia, vulnerability
to bruising and bleeding, and increased risk of infection.
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