Certain illnesses carry a weight that’s heavy with fear—one such ominous condition is blood cancer. This life-threatening disease accounts for about 6% of all cancer cases globally, with an estimated 1.24 million new cases diagnosed each year.1 Adding to the gravity of the situation, India ranks third in reported cases of blood cancer.
While our high population means fewer registered cases compared to Western countries, the alarming truth is that the mortality rate in our country is significantly higher. Thus, awareness and early detection are more crucial than ever. Read on as we discuss blood cancer causes, symptoms, prevention and the way forward.
Blood cancer poses a serious threat to our blood cells, which are vital for sustaining life. These cells provide energy, support our immune system in fighting infections, and prevent excessive bleeding. Blood cancers disrupt the normal function of these cells by affecting the bone marrow—the spongy tissue within our bones where blood cells are produced. As a result, these cancers alter the behaviour and efficiency of blood cells, compromising their ability to perform essential tasks.
Different types of blood cancer show different types of symptoms. But, unluckily, some blood cancer symptoms go unnoticed or mistakenly be understood as the cause of another disease. The blood cancer survival rate is around 70%.
Watch out for the following symptoms that are common to different types of blood cancer:
Like other cancer forms, blood cancer happens when the DNA cells mutate or change. But, medical science has still not been able to pinpoint why this happens. The doctors provide patients with a blood cancer treatment based on the DNA test reports and their symptoms.
In this type of cancer, DNA gives abnormal instructions to blood cells on when to grow, multiply, divide, and die. In this situation, normal blood cells start to change into abnormal cells in the bone marrow. Eventually, the bone marrow is left with only fewer normal cells to carry out life-saving actions. This way, the patient loses essential cells starting a ripple effect of medical ccc, necessary to carry oxygen throughout the body, fight infections, and control bleeding. This genetic change in blood cells and bone marrow can cause three blood cancer types, including:
The rapid production of abnormal white cells causes leukaemia cancer in blood cells and bone marrow. These cells do not fight infection rather they degrade the ability of the bone marrow to produce healthy red blood cells and platelets.
According to research, exposure to radiation and certain chemical intake can trigger the cause of leukaemia in the patient’s body. In this case, genetic and environmental factors cause changes in chromosomes and then, in the DNA. When cells divide and make two new cells, they copy DNA strands. Sometimes, genes from one chromosome switch to another one. This switching encourages one set of genes to grow other cells and another set of genes to suppress tumours.
Lymphoma mainly impacts the lymph system, whose function is to remove excess fluids from the body and strengthen the immune system. Lymphocytes are a kind of white blood cells that function to fight infection. But, due to cancer, they abnormally multiply and divide in lymph nodes and other tissues.
Again, medical science has not been able to discover the exact reasons that cause this genetic change in lymphocyte cells. But, studies have proved certain infections and depressed immune systems can be the factors.
It is a cancer of the white blood cells found in plasma. But, the growth of myeloma cells weakens the immune system and makes the body more susceptible to infection. Still, the research is going on to find out the connection between chromosome change and myeloma growth that causes abnormality in plasma growth.
Based on your age, current health condition, previous surgery history, and the blood cancer causes, healthcare professionals recommend personalised treatment. Go over the following treatments that doctors prefer to manage its growing symptoms:
This is a primary blood cancer treatment that uses drugs to destroy or slow down the mutation of cancerous cells. If blood cancer is in the primary stage, this eliminates the cancer. But if it is in the metastatic stage (blood cancer cells have spread to other organs), this treatment helps prevent further progression of the disease.
With external beam radiation therapy and internal radiation therapy, the radiation oncologist kills cancer cells. It is effective in treating leukaemia, myeloma, or lymphoma. However, this is not performed alone as doctors perform it with the combination of chemotherapy and other treatments.
The doctor effectively trains your immune system to locate and destroy blood cancerous cells. This way, it removes cancer cells in the blood and cancer progression to other organs.
This therapy ensures the treatment of only cancerous cells without hurting healthy cells. To begin this therapy, doctors test and analyse the blood cancer stage and what causes genetic changes or mutations to transform healthy cells into cancerous cells. Then, they identify specific treatments to eliminate or destroy blood cancer growth.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a specific immunotherapy for blood cancer treatment. It transforms T lymphocytes into more efficient cancer-fighting cells by introducing a new gene into T-cells. Some common types of blood cancer that can be treated with this therapy are B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, follicular lymphoma, multiple myeloma, mantle cell myeloma, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
It is an efficient treatment when all else options fail to destroy blood cancer cells. Sometimes, it becomes vital to perform in the event of the cancer reoccurrence. In this treatment, the doctor removes healthy blood stem cells along with cancerous cells from the bone marrow. This way, it prepares bone marrow to produce new and healthy cells again.
This is a kind of blood marrow transplant that requires a non-family member donor to donate healthy stem cells to treat blood cancer. Often, doctors may suggest bone marrow transplants when all other options do not work. With this treatment, they replace cancerous cells with healthy cells to ensure bone marrow’s good recovery.
“Cancer does not have the power to kill you until you allow it to do so". With a positive attitude one can survive with this condition. Also, timely detection and treatment can help alleviate the situation.
But wait, here’s the catch!
Given the high costs of pre- and post-hospitalisation, surgical interventions, and ongoing treatments, cancer patients often struggle to afford timely care. Here comes cancer health insurance to one’s rescue which can prevent such compromises, ensuring that financial constraints don't delay treatment. With advancements in medical technology the fight against blood cancer and other forms of the disease continues to strengthen globally.
If cancer runs in your family, opting for a Care Cancer Mediclaim policy is a prudent move, as it specifically addresses the financial burden associated with cancer treatment. This critical illness plan which comes with a sum insured of 2 crores, can offer broader protection, covering a range of serious conditions beyond cancer.
Also, combining a comprehensive indemnity plan with such a fixed-benefit critical illness policy provides robust health coverage. This approach not only covers all hospitalisation expenses but also offers a lump-sum benefit to managing immediate financial challenges during the occurrence of a major illness.
>> Also Read: Cervical Cancer Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Disclaimer: The above information is for reference purposes only. Kindly consult your general physician for verified medical advice. The health insurance benefits are subject to policy terms and conditions. Refer to your policy documents for more information.
Published on 18 Sep 2024
Published on 18 Sep 2024
Published on 18 Sep 2024
Published on 18 Sep 2024
Published on 17 Sep 2024
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