Chronic leukemia affects white blood cells and progresses slowly, unlike acute leukemia. It is caused by a mutated white blood cell that reproduces and invades the body. There are two types: CLL and CML. The three stages are chronic, accelerated, and explosive. Treatment includes chemotherapy and prescription drugs. Early diagnosis is crucial for successful treatment.
Chronic leukemia is a disease that affects the body’s white blood cells, the cells responsible for fighting disease and infection. Leukemia is a cancer that affects the bone marrow, which is the spongy substance inside the bones responsible for making new blood cells, and the blood itself. Chronic leukemia is so called because the cancer takes a long time to progress, as opposed to acute leukemia, which progresses very rapidly and can often be fatal if not caught early.
Leukemia is caused by a single mutated white blood cell. This white blood cell reproduces, creating more mutated cells. The mutation renders the blood cells ineffective against viruses and bacteria, also prolonging the life of the cell. Because these cells live much longer than normal cells, they quickly begin to take over the body. They invade the bloodstream and organs, eventually occupying the space that should have held healthy cells. Eventually, this will lead to tumors.
There are two types of chronic leukemia. The first and most common is chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This type of leukemia affects only the white blood cells of lymphocytes. These are cells that fight off viruses and other foreign substances in the bloodstream. Over 15,000 cases of CLL are diagnosed in the United States each year.
The second type of chronic leukemia is chronic myeloid leukemia or CML. It is also sometimes called chronic nonlymphocytic leukemia (CNML). CML affects the other types of white blood cells, called granulocytes and monocytes. These types of white blood cells fight bacteria and infections. CML is much less common than CLL, with only about 5,000 cases each year in the United States.
The stages of chronic leukemia are different from most other cancers. The three phases – chronic, accelerated and explosive – describe how quickly the mutated cancer cells are multiplying. During the chronic phase, the cells are still controllable. Blood consists of less than 5% of mutated cells and cancer is easily treated with a very high remission rate.
The second stage, accelerated, the patient’s blood consists of more than 5%, but less than 30%, of the mutated cells. In this stage, symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, and poor appetite, become more pronounced. Although cancer in this stage is still mostly curable, patients may not respond as well, or as quickly, as they would have in the earlier stage.
The final stage of chronic leukemia is called the explosive stage. At this point, the mutated cells make up over 30% of the patient’s blood and bone marrow, and the cells are now attacking other organs and tissues within the body. This is when chronic leukemia progresses to acute leukemia and the chance of successful treatment is significantly lower than in the other two stages.
Chronic leukemia is treated very easily with chemotherapy and prescription drugs if caught early. Testing for chronic leukemia involves a quick blood test, which allows your doctor to check the number of white blood cells in a blood sample. If the number is well above the average, further testing will be done.
One of the main symptoms of chronic leukemia is a weakened immune system, making patients more susceptible to disease. This may continue until the correct number of normal white blood cells has grown back after treatment. Because chronic leukemia symptoms are easy to confuse with other things, it’s important to let your doctor know if you’ve been experiencing CL symptoms. Early diagnosis is the best way to increase the likelihood that treatment will be successful.
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