Symptoms: paleness, weakness, or fatigue, spontaneous bruising, red, swollen, or bleeding gums, persistent low-grade fever, swollen lymph glands, bone pain, nosebleeds, blood in urine or stool, enlarged spleen or liver.
Home care
Treatment for leukemia must always regulated by a doctor.
Precaution
Many common diseases can imitate the symptoms of leukemia. Do not assume that a child has leukemia because he or she has one or more of the symptoms listed above. Have the doctor see the child to make a diagnosis.
Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells. It can afflict children at any age, but most frequently occurs in children between three and four years old. Some 25 percent of leukemia cases are diagnosed during a routine physical examination before the child shows any symptoms of the disease. Symptoms similar to those of leukemia can also show up in a child suffering from some quite different (and often very simple) disorder. Although it’s rare, leukemia is one of the four types of cancer most frequently seen in children. The disease can progress slowly or rapidly.
Signs and symptoms
Doctors may suspect leukemia when a physical examination reveals the above signs and symptoms along with an enlarged spleen or liver. Suspicion is strengthened by an abnormal blood count that reveals malignant (cancerous) white blood cells. The diagnosis is confirmed by an examination of bone marrow.
Home care
No home care is advised until a doctor has diagnosed the condition. Leukemia is a serious condition that always requires close medical attention.
Precaution
Leukemia itself is fairly uncommon. However, many illnesses imitate leukemia, and these illnesses are not uncommon; among them are infectious mononucleosis, herpes infections of the mouth, vitamin Ñ deficiency, rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, sickle cell anaemia, and other diseases that cause spontaneous bruising. Do not jump to the conclusion that your child has leukemia because of the presence of any of the signs or symptoms described above. To ease your mind, have the doctor examine the child.
Medical treatment
Today, leukemia can be treated with a wide range of anti-cancer drugs. These drugs may result in long periods of remission (during which the illness gets no worse) and perhaps even cure. Pediatric cancer specialists (oncologists) decide on and supervise the treatment of leukemia. The survival rate of childhood leukemia has been rising over the last few years because of the use of new, complex, anti-cancer drugs.
*145/84/5*
Write a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.