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Emily Van WagonerProfessor: Lynne Gilbert-NortonBiology 1010April 24, 2012Final Paper Personal ReflectionThe topic I chose to write about was Leukemia. There were a few different reasons I chose to write about Leukemia one reason was because I have known people in the past who have had Leukemia. My Grandma died of Leukemia when she was 37 years old. The Leukemia she was diagnosed with was acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Her immune system basically shut down and her red blood cells started attacking her white blood cells. After my parents had talked to me about my Grandma dying from Leukemia, I never really knew what Leukemia was; I just always knew it was some type of cancer. With cancer being a huge topic to cover I thought this would be a good opportunity to write about Leukemia and learn more about this type of cancer.LeukemiaCancer is a nasty disease, in 2011 in the United States alone there were 1,596,670 deaths to some type of cancer. () There are many types of cancer in this world. Cancer is uncontrollable cell division and the spread of abnormal cell. (Mader 153) Leukemia is cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. Leukemia is the 6th leading cause of cancer deaths among men, and the 7th leading deaths of cancer among women. When you are healthy your bone marrow makes white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. White blood cells help your body fight infections. Your red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body, and platelets help your bold clot. ("Web MD")There are two ways to classify Leukemia. The first way is by how fast the Leukemia progresses, which is either acute or chronic. The second type of classification is by the type of white blood cell that is affected. The white blood cells that can be affected are either the Lymphocytic or Myelogenous blood cells. (“Medical News Today”)In acute Leukemia the abnormal blood cells grow and divide rapidly and the cells do not die and the disease acts fast. Chronic Leukemia is when the blood cells are slow to grow and divide and accumulate. This can be happening for a while with someone not having symptoms of Leukemia for years. Lymphocytic Leukemia affects the lymphoid or lymphatic tissue. Myelogenous Leukemia affects the myeloid cells. ("Mayo Clinc")There are four major types of Leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Each has different treatments, some are more commonly found in adults and others in children. Each of the four also has different recovery times, different chances of being able to fight it, and each has different symptoms. ("Mayo Clinc")ALL is most common in children. However adults over the age of 50 can also get ALL and ALL can be common in that age range. ALL requires immediate attention when diagnosed, it can worsen very quickly. People who have ALL have abnormal cells crowd other types of cells in the bone marrow, preventing the production of red blood cells, some types of white blood cells and platelets. Treatment for ALL varies with age however chemotherapy is one of the best treatments. ("Mayo Clinc")AML is the most common of Leukemia found, it occurs in both children and adults. However it is more common in adults. AML also starts in the bone marrow in the soft tissue. Treatments for AML are radiation and chemotherapy.CLL is most common in adults; you can go years with having it and not knowing. CLL is a slow increase in white blood cells called lymphocytes. The cells spread from the blood marrow to the blood, and can also affect the lymph nodes or other organs such as the liver and spleen. These organs will become very swollen. The most common form of treatment for CLL is also chemotherapy. Radiation may be used on enlarged lymph nodes. (“Web MD”)CML is found mostly in older adults, although children can also have CML. One can have this form of cancer for months or years without knowing about it. Radiation exposure can increase your chances of getting CML, however if you have had any exposure to radiation, Leukemia will take a long time to develop. CML is also split up into three phases. The first phase is known as the chronic phase. The chronic phase, patients usually only has about five percent of cancer cells in their body at the time. The second phase is the accelerated phase. The accelerated phase has a little less than thirty percent of cancerous cells attacking the patient’s body. The third and final phase is known as the acute blast phase. In this phase the patient’s cancer has spread from their bone marrow to their other organs like their spleens, livers, lymph nodes etc. ("Survivors Club")There are a few different symptoms when dealing with Leukemia. Some of the most common symptoms are fevers, night sweats, weakness, fatigue, headaches, bone pain, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes or other organs, infections, decreased appetite and weight loss, bruising easily, and bleeding from the gums or rectum. Experts do not know the real reason of what causes Leukemia. Experts do have some ideas of what can make you a higher risk or more likely to get Leukemia. Some of them being, exposed to radiation, smoking and doing drugs, being exposed to certain chemicals, people who have Downs Syndrome and genetics. ("Medical News Today")The most common treatments among all forms of Leukemia are chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and stem cell transplants. Bone marrow transplants have been becoming more common as time goes on. The treatment that was interesting was the immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is where the doctors will try to repair, stimulate, or enhance your body’s own immune responses that way your body can fight the cancer on its own. The most successful form of treatment for most people who are fighting Leukemia is chemotherapy. The chemotherapy can try to destroy the cancer cells. There are times where it comes to the point where the chemotherapy is not enough to get rid of the cancerous cells which grow rapidly. Some side effects of the treatments for Leukemia are infection, fatigue, bleeding, bowel irritation, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, vomiting, sores on and in the mouth, hair loss and weight loss. (“Medical News Today”)Survival rates differ based on the type of Leukemia you have, the stage of Leukemia you are at and your age. In the 1960s the 5-year survival rate for all forms of Leukemia was about 14 percent.? Today that survival rate has risen to a little over 50 percent. Some forms of Leukemia, such as CLL, the survival rate after 5 years is 76 percent.?In children under 5 the survival rate for most forms of Leukemia is 90 percent. New advances are being made all the time, to increase these survival rates. ("Survivors Club")Leukemia, like every other type of cancer out there, is a nasty, horrible, terrifying disease to have to fight. Caner is easy for doctors to spot, but hard to cure and understand fully. We have made many improvements over time with treatments, being diagnosed, and understanding how to fight it. Although we still do not know what causes most cancers and especially Leukemia, with the research and technology that comes out every year, I hope that one day the scientist will discover what is the cause of this terrible disease. Bibliography. "Leukemia- Topic Overview." Web MD. Healthwise Inc., 17, December 2010. Web. 20 Apr 2012. <cancer/tc/leukemia-topic-overview>.. "Leukemia." Mayo Clinc. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2 August 2011. Web. 20 Apr 2012. <;."What is Leukemia? What causes Leukemia?." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International Ltd., 8th June 2009. Web. 20 Apr 2012. <. "Leukemia Stages." The Survivors Club. The Survivors Club Interactive Inc, 15 April 2011. Web. 24 Apr 2012 <,, Sylvia. Concepts of Biology. Second. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2009. 153. Print ................
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