Archive for the ‘Leukemia’ Tag
Leukemia: Risk Factors and Symptoms
Filed under: Leukemia, You'll Find Interesting | Tags: cancer, Leukemia, risk factors, symptoms
Comments (2) Leukemia is a type of cancer that begins in the blood cells. Blood cells grow and marrow in the bone marrow before they are pushed out into circulation. When someone has leukemia, the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells that are pushed out into circulation. The abnormal cells are leukemia cells.
At first, leukemia cells function almost normally. Overtime, they may crowd out other cells in the circulation, making it hard for the normal cell to do their job. There are different types of leukemia. Sometimes it is a chronic, or slow growing disease, and other times it is acute, or fast growing. It can also affect different types of white blood cells such as lymphoid cells or myeloid cells.
Risk factors related to leukemia:
- High-levels of radiation exposure
- Exposure to certain chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde
- Chemotherapy used to treat other cancers can sometimes result in leukemia
- Down’s syndrome
- Human T-cell leukemia virus 1(HTLV1)
- Myelodysplastic syndrome
Symptoms:
- Feeling tired or weak
- Fever or night sweats
- Frequent infections
- Headache
- Bleeding and bruising easily
- Pain in bone or joints
- Pain or discomfort in abdomen
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Weight loss
Oakwood Offers a Variety of Clinical Cancer Trials
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Clinical Trials, You'll Find Interesting | Tags: Breast Cancer, cancer prevention, cancer treatments, cancer trials, CCOP, colon cancer, Community Clinical Oncology Program of the National Cancer Institute, Leukemia, Lung Cancer, lymphoma, oncology trials, prostate cancer, SELECT trial, STAR trial
Comments (8) The second leading cause of death in the United States is cancer. Clinical Trials are a leading tool in the process of controlling this disease. New treatment programs and medications are evaluated, old ones are refined; cancer prevention methods, techniques to ameliorate side effects are tested through these trials.
People who participate in clinical trials are heroes in their own right. Through their participation they benefit from treatment that is as good, if not better than, the current standard of care. They also pave the way for others yet to be diagnosed with this devastating disease.
Oakwood Healthcare System through its participation in the Community Clinical Oncology Program of the National Cancer Institute (CCOP) offers patients the opportunity to enroll in Cancer related Clinical Trials.
