What Should We Know About Child with Leukemia
Cancer is the second most common cause of mortality in children aged between 1 and 14 years and now appears to increase the incidence of illness among children, hence the need for early diagnosis and effective treatment.
Leukemia is the most common cancer in childhood, is a type of cancer that affects white blood cells, they flood the bloodstream and fail to protect the body against disease treated defective cells. In addition, leukemia interferes with the production of other blood cells like red blood cells and platelets.
There are several types of leukemia, but approximately 60% of children who have it suffer from acute lymphocytic leukemia and approximately 38% of acute myeloid leukemia. The lymphocytic form of the disease occurs most frequently in young children of 2-8 years, with a more pronounced effect at the age of 4 years.
Although cancer and, especially leukemia, is one of the most feared diseases, the chances of cure are very good. With the proper treatment, most of children who suffer from illness and overcome it never reappears.
They can not always know or control the factors that trigger leukemia, but there are circumstances that seem to predispose children to develop the disease. Most are not due to hereditary causes, we study on possible environmental factors, previous anti-cancer treatments, radiation during pregnancy or the use of immunosuppressant for organ transplants.
Since this disease is not preventable, it’s very important for early diagnosis the early symptoms that may occur. In a diagnostic test, besides being important for the child’s medical history (diseases, medications taken or previous treatments), look for physical signs such as recurrent infections, anemia, abnormal bleeding, swollen lymph nodes or palpation of organs like the liver or spleen to check its size and status.
