Description
Leukemia
hairy cell is a rare disease, one of the options chronic
leukemia. But despite this, it is considered a separate disease, with
its clinical picture. This type of leukemia affects the white blood
cells or b-lymphocytes. Namely, the functional responsibilities of the white cells
is to protect the body from infections.
Why this
a form of leukemia called hairy cell? This name comes from "torn"
or "hairy" edges of the cancer cell that are visible under the microscope. Accumulation
this type of cancer cells in this type of leukemia occurs in the bone marrow and
the spleen.
Develops
hairy cell leukemia is a progressive, and occurs predominantly in elderly
age. Often they are ill men over fifty years.
Symptoms
Distinctive
symptoms of hairy cell leukemia are: first, the slow and
gradual enlargement of the spleen (splenomegaly), because it happens
the destruction of abnormal cells. Hence may have pain and feeling
heaviness in the left half of the abdomen. Secondly, the main symptoms of this type
leukemia include anemia and frequent infections. All these manifestations
diseases are the symptoms of hairy cell leukemia.
For more
the developed stages of the disease can manifest intoxication in tumor
the process and all the accompanying symptoms, such as weight loss,
of appetite, night sweats, fever.
Diagnostic
For
diagnosing hairy cell leukemia, primarily, held
a variety of laboratory studies of blood, in which are found
typical "hairy cell".
via
blood tests revealed a typical and distinctive feature of this species
leukemia is the reduction in the number of blood cells pancytopenia (if other
types of leukemia is increased). With this phenomenon in patients
associated loss of appetite, anemia, lowered immunity and frequent infectious
disease.
For
to confirm the presumptive diagnosis, the patient is obligatorily
puncture of the bone marrow and spleen. Then performed histological analysis
tissue, where it also found "hairy" cells. For the production of accurate
diagnosis is necessary to detect not less than ten percent of these "hairy"
cells in the bone marrow.
Sometimes,
as an additional diagnostic method, performed computer
tomography of the abdominal cavity of the patient.
Prevention
Because
medicine is still not well studied and identified the causes of the disease
hairy cell leukemia, and methods of prevention of this zabolevaniya on
the moment does not exist.
Treatment
To ensure
hairy cell leukemia always requires aggressive techniques and on
early stages.
so, in
treatment usually consists of:
- surgery
removal of the spleen - chemotherapy uses drugs that kill cancer cells);
- immunotherapy (stimulating the immune system, which is able to kill herself
cancer cells) - surgery
bone marrow transplant (when exposed to chemotherapeutic drugs
bone marrow is destroyed, so they often need replacing him healthy
donor bone marrow); - transfusion
blood (for treatment of anemia manifestations); - treatment
infectious diseases with antibiotics.
In recurrent
hairy cell leukemia is usually administered a second course of treatment, which in
most cases and leads to positive results.