Childhood blood cancer, childhood leukemia, or leukemia, is a serious and insidious disease that is quite difficult to recognize at an early stage. The disease is characterized by a mutation in the cells of the hematopoietic system. The pathology does not have a specific localization site, the cells affected by the disease freely move throughout the body, which leads to the formation of a large number of metastases. Positive results in treatment can only be achieved if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage and the correct therapy is immediately prescribed.
Types of blood cancer
The diagnosis of "blood cancer" in children or adults can be considered not entirely correct to refer to oncology that has affected the circulatory system. There are several types of ailment:
- Leukemia, or leukemia. With this form, the neoplasm appears from leukocytes - bone marrow cells. The disease can be chronic or acute. Chronic leukemia is formed from already mature leukocytes and is characterized by a mild course. Acute pathology is formed from cells that have not yet matured and its course is very aggressive.
- Hematosarcomas orsarcomas. They are distinguished by an aggressive course and are formed from the lymph tissue.
Ordinary people under blood cancer in children and adults mean tumor diseases of the blood, lymphosarcoma or leukemia. Speaking the language of doctors, it would be more correct to call the disease - hemoblastosis.
Reasons
To name exactly what provokes blood cancer in children, what causes and circumstances contribute to its development, until now, none of the scientists can. The causes of blood cancer in childhood are different:
- genetic predisposition;
- taking a certain type of medication;
- aggressive effects of radiation;
- accumulation of carcinogens in the body;
- consequences of environmental disasters.
As observations show, most often the disease develops in the body where several factors coincide at once. The process can be started by just one altered cell, which the immune system did not notice, and it entered the bloodstream. Newborn children with blood cancer die more often, because their disease develops rapidly, the immune system is still poorly developed and cannot fully fight the cells affected by the disease.
In children with allergies, the disease does not develop so often, but all because the immune system is always active and immediately begins to fight against altered cells. But even an allergy can not always protect a child from blood cancer, so it is better to have regular check-ups.
Features and clinical picture
As alreadyit was said that for the disease to begin to develop in the body, just one mutated cell is enough, which the immune system could not recognize. It begins to divide rapidly, which is why the first signs of blood cancer in children appear early. It is noteworthy that the younger the child, the faster the development of the disease passes.
Signs of the disease in children and adolescents are similar and manifest in the same way as in an adult. At the initial stage, the disease is difficult to detect, but there are still some symptoms that should force parents to urgently take their child to a specialist for examination:
- somatic manifestations include fatigue, drowsiness or, conversely, insomnia;
- wounds and ulcers on the skin heal too slowly;
- blue circles are observed around the eyes, the skin turns pale;
- Bleeding gums, frequent nosebleeds;
- the child often suffers from viral and infectious diseases.
All these are the first signs of blood cancer in a child, and if at least one of them is observed in a baby, then he urgently needs to be taken to a specialist and undergo a comprehensive examination to find out exactly what the cause is and start urgent treatment.
Symptomatics
If the first signs were not pronounced and parents could not recognize a serious disease in them, then more serious symptoms appear in the next stage of cancer. They also can not always be tied to the development of leukemia. Clinical picture of the diseasecharacterized as follows:
- slight increase in temperature with no apparent cause;
- aching pain in the knees and elbow joint;
- Increased bone fragility;
- complete lack of appetite, the child is not even attracted to his favorite treat;
- dizziness, frequent migraines;
- fainting;
- loss of interest in the outside world, constant feeling of fatigue.
In some children, blood cancer can manifest itself in the form of enlarged lymph nodes in the liver and spleen, due to this, the stomach becomes larger, there is a pronounced swelling of the peritoneum. At a later stage, a rash on the skin is observed, and the oral mucosa bleeds. If there is a lesion of the lymph nodes, then this sign cannot be ignored, because the nodes become dense, but not painful. With such a symptom, they urgently seek help from a doctor and conduct an ultrasound of the desired areas.
Diagnostic measures
Blood cancer is a pathology that is difficult to diagnose, therefore, to make a diagnosis, an integrated approach is needed, which includes the following activities:
- Be examined by an oncologist who will review complaints, as well as by a hematologist.
- study of biological material will also help detect blood cancer in children. Blood tests and biochemistry are the main diagnostic methods.
- Bone marrow is examined by sternal puncture ortrepanobiopsy.
- Immunophenotyping helps to determine the subtype of a malignant tumor and will allow you to choose the most effective treatment.
- Cytology allows you to identify specific damage to chromosomes, determines the degree of aggressiveness of cancer.
- Molecular genetic diagnostics reveals abnormalities at the molecular level.
- Additional tests provide an opportunity to detect cancer cells in the cerebrospinal fluid.
The main task of all these examinations is to determine the nature of the neoplasm, the stage of its development, the degree of aggressiveness and to establish the extent of bone marrow damage. Only after all the data has been received, is an individual treatment selected for each child, taking into account the type of cancer, each of which involves taking certain medications and carrying out comprehensive measures.
Stages of blood cancer
It will not be possible to find an effective therapy if you do not establish the stage of blood cancer in children, the signs may not always indicate this particular disease, so it is important to go through all the recommended studies. The division into stages allows the oncologist to determine the size of the neoplasm, how much it affected the body, to identify the presence of metastases and the effect on tissues and organs. Cancer is divided into the following stages:
- The first is characterized by malfunctions in the immune system, when mutated cells appear in the body, which have a different structure and appearance, and besides, they are constantly dividing. In this phase, cancer can be easily and quickly cured withoutserious consequences for the child.
- The second is characterized by the fact that the cells affected by the disease begin to cluster and form tumor clots. But during this period, therapy can give good chances for a full life, because metastases have not yet been observed.
- The third is characterized by the fact that cancer cells become many times larger, they have already hit the lymphatic system and began to spread to other organs and systems, metastases appear in different places.
The fourth most dangerous and unfavorable for the patient, because metastases are actively spreading in almost all organs. The effectiveness of chemotherapy decreases several times, and all because tumors, and there are a lot of them, react differently to it. No one gives any forecasts at this stage
Treatment of blood cancer in children
For more than a dozen years, scientists around the world have been looking for a drug that could cure cancer in children and adults. But so far they have not been able to find such a drug, so the treatment is based on chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation.
Chemotherapy is one of the main methods of treatment, in which toxic drugs are introduced into the patient's blood in large quantities. Their main goal is to destroy all cancer cells. But this method has one significant drawback - the non-selectivity of the effect of drugs. After all, he althy cells die along with cancer-affected cells. Rapidly growing tissues are the first to be affected by chemotherapy:
- hair follicles;
- bone marrow;
- cells of the digestive system.
At the same time, children, like adults, experience nausea, diarrhea and hair loss. Along with these effects of chemotherapy, others appear: loss of appetite, anemia and leukopenia.
After chemotherapy, children are often given blood transfusions to replace the lost red blood cells and platelets. As many experts have noticed, such treatment brings much more benefit to children than to adults. Statistics say that seven out of ten children after chemotherapy survive and live a full life.
Surgery
Bone marrow transplantation is carried out in rare cases, because it is not always possible to find the right donor. It should be noted that this operation cannot be called a transplant, and all because the procedure involves the introduction of bone marrow concentrate from a he althy donor to a sick patient.
But before this procedure, a sick child is destroyed by all his "native" cells, which struck cancer, using a drug for chemotherapy. During this manipulation, both cancerous and he althy cells die. This method is used for children only if the degree of cancer is too aggressive and other methods have not given relief. Relatives most often become donors for a child.
During the operation and before the transplanted bone marrow beginsto function, patients are too vulnerable to infections, so they are admitted to a rehabilitation center during this time.
How long do blood cancer patients live?
Even experienced specialists cannot name the exact symptoms and causes of blood cancer in children. After all, most often it is impossible to find out why a child of he althy parents fell ill. It is also impossible to name the obvious manifestations of this disease, because until a certain time the disease can be asymptomatic. There can be many reasons, the main thing is to detect the disease in time and start therapy.
It is impossible to say exactly how long a child with blood cancer will live. Indeed, as practice shows, many people whom doctors have already refused treatment, referring to the fact that nothing will help them, still live for years after that. Everything, of course, depends on the stage at which the disease was detected and what treatment is chosen. Therefore, no one will give accurate forecasts.
Prevention
Due to the fact that the nature of cancer has not yet been fully studied, there is no prevention of this pathology. You can reduce the risk of developing an illness if you reduce the influence of provoking factors:
- Stay away from radioactive places.
- Child's immunity needs to be strengthened.
- Perform hardening.
- Introduce more plant foods and no carcinogens into the diet.
- Encourage an active lifestyle.
- Regularly, at least once a year, undergo a comprehensive examination.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the photos presented in the article, blood cancer in children is a serious and insidious disease,anyone can find it. That is why you should not turn a blind eye to the first signs that do not always indicate that it is cancer. Any symptom must be diagnosed, the only way to protect the baby from a serious illness. Parents need to surround their child with attention and provide him with the right lifestyle.
