Causes and symptoms of leukemia

What is leukemia?

Leukemia is actually a cancer of blood cells and starts in the bone marrow. Bone marrow is a soft tissue inside the bones. Blood cells are made in bone marrow.Bone marrow of a healthy person makes

• White blood cells, which help the body to fight against infection
• Platelets, which help the body to clot blood
• Red blood cells, which are responsible to carry oxygen to all parts of the body

  

Bone marrow of leukemia patient starts making abnormal white blood cells which are called, leukemia cells. These cells do not perform the function of normal white blood cells rather they grow rapidly then normal cells. Over time, these cells accumulate in such a great mass that results anemia, infections and bleeding. Leukemia cells also spread to different parts of a body especially lymph nodes where they cause swelling and pain.

Types of leukemia

Based on what kind of white blood cells it affects and how rapidly it gets worse, leukemia is grouped into two.

• Acute or chronic leukemia

Acute leukemia becomes worse rapidly as compared to chronic leukemia which does not cause any symptom for years.

• Lymphocytic or myelogenous leukemia

Lymphocytic or lymphoblastic leukemia affects white blood cells which are called lymphocytes white myelogenous leukemia affects white blood cells called myelocytes

Causes of leukemia

According to experts, there is an ambiguity in what causes leukemia. Most people who get leukemia do not show any of the mentioned risk factors and most people who have these factors do not get leukemia

However, possible causes of leukemia which are also called risk factors of leukemia are:

• Exposure to large amount of radiation
• Exposure to benzene or certain chemicals at work place
• Chemotherapy treatment
• Smoking
• Some genetic problems or Down syndrome

Leukemia symptoms

Early symptoms of leukemia include fever, painless lumps in neck, underarm, groin and stomach and frequent infections. People with chronic leukemia do not have early symptoms of leukemia. After the appearance of early symptoms, leukemia patients address some more symptoms which include night sweats, swollen spleen, bone or joint pain and weight loss.