Blood cancer affects the body’s ability to create blood cells as well as the function of these cells. Most blood cancers originate within the hard tissue structures that house the bone – The bone marrow. Bone marrow comprises stem cells that through a process of development differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, which are major components of blood.
Blood cells received such a designation because of their involvement in such processes as fighting off infections, transporting oxygen, or the preservation of blood volume through clotting. Precisely, blood cancer treatment occurs in circumstances where there is a change in the system regarding the production process of blood cells. However, blood cancer patients are expected to survive for longer periods of time-lines these days since new treatment approaches are being discovered and developed.
Types of Blood Cancer
There are three blood cancer types with some of them having subtypes. The types and their subtypes include:
Leukemia is the most common child cancer worldwide according to data from Encyc, a global child cancer consensus. It has been established that the five-year forecasts of survival ability have improved by four times within forty years. Types of leukemia include acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and chronic myelogenous leukemia,
Lymphoma has two types: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and it originates from the lymphatic system and bone part. The survival rate of patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) has been significantly improved over the last 40 years, Long-term survival rates approximately doubled 40 years ago. Your lymphatic system has two basic functions: to create and move lymph tissue that plays a crucial role in immunity and the development of diseases. The lymphatic system includes bone marrow CTL. Lymphoma types are Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Waldenstrom macroglobulin, follicular lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, and any cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
Myeloma is the common myeloma type with the highest prognosis and prevalence rate followed. Additionally, plasmacytoma and amyloidosis are also malignant types of myeloma. More than fifty percent of individuals diagnosed within five years of myeloma diagnosis are living.
Some Common Treatments for Blood Cancer
Chemotherapy: It is a blood cancer treatment that uses chemicals to destroy cancer cells in order to stop the progression of the disease or cure cancer. Treatment of blood cancers is accompanied by various types of drugs by the healthcare provider.
Radiation therapy: Healthcare providers may make use of radiation in the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma. Radiation affects abnormal cells’ reproductive functions through DNA destruction. Healthcare professionals don’t depend entirely on radiation therapy. Radiation may sometimes be required to relieve some symptoms.
Immunotherapy: This is a treatment that engages your body’s immune system in the battle against cancer. The purpose of immunotherapy is to assist your body in producing more immune cells or enable your present immune cells to target and destroy cancer cells.
Targeted therapy for cancer: This is a cancer treatment that targets genetic alterations and mutations responsible for transforming normal cells into abnormal ones.
CAR T-cell therapy: In CAR T-cell therapy T-cell lymphocytes (a specific type of white blood cell) are made more effective against cancer by health care providers. CAR T-cell therapy may be recommended for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, multiple myeloma, and various forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma where other treatments have failed.
Autologous stem cell transplant: Healthcare providers can carry out the harvesting and blood marrow stem cell storage before administration of greater doses of chemotherapy.
Prevention
Blood cancer is caused by a change or mutation in the DNA of blood cells. There is still no justification for this and hence, it’s hard to pinpoint distinct steps someone could engage in to minimize their risk.
However, researchers have pointed out some factors that seem to contribute to the genetic change:
- Radiation exposure.
- Cytotoxic chemicals.
- Immunosuppression, most probably from infectious agents.
- Blood cancer may be more common in some families.
- Genetic disorders are associated with a higher risk of development of Blood cancer.
Conclusion
There is a tremendous change taking place regarding the treatment of blood cancers, and patients are now given a wide range of options that did not exist before. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and bone marrow transplants are now standard procedures, however, there is a noticeable shift as targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and particularly CAR-T cell therapy are becoming more popular these days, especially in patients who have relapsed or refractory disease. We can only hope for better days when more effective and safer therapies become available with the advent of personalized medicine and new treatment modalities.
The management of the disease is unique for every individual depending on the specific type of blood cancer hematological malignancy, its genomic environment, the age and condition of the recipient, and even the response of the tumor to treatment. Oncologists, hematologists, nurses, and other support staff adopt a team approach to care for the patient.
