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Informative Essay On Leukemia

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Leukemia An estimated 1,129,813 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from some type of blood cancer. Of those 1.1 million Americans, 310,046 are, or were previously diagnosed with, leukemia (“Facts and Statistics”). Leukemia is a type of blood cancer that affects the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system (Mayo Clinic Staff). Blood is essential to the human body in that it carries the necessary amounts of fuel and oxygen throughout the body, aids in the fighting of disease and infection, and regulates body temperature, among many other crucial tasks. When blood cells or blood-forming tissues are infected or destroyed, it can have harmful effects throughout the body. Although the damage of blood-forming tissues (and white blood cells) is commonly referred to as the simple umbrella term “leukemia,” there are several different types of this particular cancer. Doctors classify each …show more content…

acute vs chronic, lymphocytic vs myelogenous). Furthermore, some of the leukemia types may be broken down even further into subtypes during the staging process (“Leukemia”). The two acute types of leukemia (both lymphocytic and myelogenous) are often staged based on the type of cells involved and how the cells look under a microscope. This approach is called the French-American-British (FAB) classification system (“Stages of Leukemia”). For lymphocytic leukemia types, the white blood cell count at the time of diagnosis may be used to help stage the leukemia. Likewise, staging for myelogenous leukemias is based on the number of myeloblasts (immature white blood cells) found in the blood or bone marrow. Factors affecting leukemia staging and prognosis include: white blood cell or platelet count, age, history of prior blood disorders, chromosome mutations or abnormalities, bone damage, and enlarged liver or spleen (“Stages of

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