Pediatric Blood Cancer

Raivath Mukherjee
6 days ago
2 min read

Jackie Clemente

Abstract

The most common cancer seen in children is leukemia. Every year, hundreds of children with leukemia are seen by blood cancer specialists. Leukemia is a complex type of cancer, but researchers are gaining expertise on how to treat it in even the youngest of patients (1).

Leukemia & Blood Cells

Abnormal white blood cells growing in the bone marrow and into the bloodstream is how leukemia takes effect. These cells invade platelets, red blood cells, and healthy white blood cells. The low level of platelets that leukemia causes can result in children being more prone to bruising or bleeding. Leukemia patients are also prone to shortness of breath, fatigue, and other symptoms, which are the result of a lack of healthy red blood cells. Children with leukemia are less likely to be able to fight off infection as well because of the lack of healthy white blood cells (1).

Symptoms

When leukemia cells multiply, the production of healthy blood cells is severely affected. This causes many symptoms, such as fever, bone or joint pain, loss of appetite, bruising easily, bleeding easily, weight loss, fatigue, frequent infections, swollen lymph nodes, paleness, and shortness of breath (1).

Types

Childhood leukemia is categorized into three main types and can either be acute or chronic. Acute means it takes over quickly and progresses swiftly, while chronic means it grows more slowly and progresses gradually. The three main types are acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Young children are mostly affected by AML, which begins in the myeloid cells that would usually mature into healthy blood cells. ALL is the most common form of leukemia in children, affecting most children aged 1-10. ALL begins in lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, and progresses rapidly. CML is the rarest of the three and progresses very slowly (1).

Thanks to advances in leukemia treatment, the survival rate of children with the disease is 90%. Many children go on to live busy, abundant lives (2).