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Diagnosis and Treatment Options for Leukemia

Leukemia is the cancer of the blood that occurs when there is an abnormal growth of some blood cells in the bone marrow. This fast abnormal growth of any one type of blood cell then prevents the healthy growth of other blood cells, which then becomes a cancer of the blood. Leukemia has no obvious or noticeable symptoms in its early stage but can be diagnosed incidentally in a routine physical exam or through a blood test.

Diagnosis of leukemia
Leukemia often makes a person look pale and enlarges their lymph nodes, liver, or spleen. It also causes frequent fever along with persistent infections, fatigue, or a small pinpoint rash. These signs often help the doctors suspect leukemia. To confirm their suspicion, doctors often perform a needle biopsy and examine bone marrow from the pelvic bone to look for leukemic cells, chromosome changes, and DNA markers.

Some important factors that doctors look for while diagnosing leukemia are the age of the patient, the type of leukemia, and the abnormalities in the chromosomes that are found in the leukemia cells in the bone marrow.

Treatments for leukemia
The treatments for leukemia often include chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, watchful waiting, and supportive therapy. These different therapies are given to patients based on the type of leukemia they have.

The different types of leukemia and their treatment procedures are mentioned below.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)

People who suffer from any of above-mentioned leukemia get a treatment plan designed keeping in mind the specific type of cancer that they have. In all types of leukemia, doctors consider the age of the patient, the chromosome changes and abnormalities, the subtype of the type of leukemia, and overall health of the patient. Based on the considerations, the treatments that will follow will include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy, and stem cell therapy.

Response to treatment
It is important for every doctor to see how well the patient is responding to the treatment. The response or the success of the treatments help doctors to plan ahead as complete remission is the goal of the treatment. Below are the responses doctors may find:

Complete remission – This indicates that the number of blood cells has become normal again and the immature cells left in the bone marrow are less than 5% in numbers. Additionally, complete remission also includes the total reduction of the symptoms of leukemia and that cancer has not reached the brain, the spinal cord, or any other substantial part of the body.

Minimal residual disease – This is when the cancer cells have not completely eliminated and are still present in the bone marrow. However, this can only be found by some sensitive tests like cytometry or polymerase chain reaction.

Active disease – This indicates that the cancer cells are still present at the time of the treatment or the disease has relapsed. In other words, it means that cancer cells are more than 5%.

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