Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood cells, usually white blood cells. Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases. In turn, it is part of the even broader group of diseases called hematological neoplasm. Acute leukemia is characterized by the rapid increase of immature blood cells. This crowding makes the bone marrow unable to produce healthy blood cells. Acute forms of leukemia often occur in children and young adults.
Damage to the bone marrow, by way of displacing the normal bone marrow cells with higher numbers of immature white blood cells, results in a lack of blood platelets, which are important in the blood clotting process. This means people with leukemia may become bruised, bleed excessively, or develop pinprick bleeds. White blood cells, which are involved in fighting pathogens, may be suppressed or dysfunctional. This could cause the patient's immune system to be unable to fight off a simple infection or to start attacking other body cells. Finally, the red blood cell deficiency leads to anemia, which may cause dyspnea. All symptoms can be attributed to other diseases.
There is no single known cause for all of the different types of leukemia. The different leukemias likely have different causes, and very little is certain about what causes them. Researchers have strong suspicions about four possible causes:
● natural or artificial ionizing radiation
● certain kinds of chemicals
● some viruses
● genetic predispositions
Stem cell transplantation is a rapidly advancing treatment option for patients who have blood cancer or an immunological disorder. Over the past 30 years, transplantation has evolved from an experimental treatment for a small group of diseases to a standard of care for many blood and immunologic disorders and cancers.
Stem cell transplantation is a therapeutic procedure used to treat malignant disorders, which become resistant to therapy, or are incurable with standard therapy.