Facts about Blood Cancer and Treatment options

Blood cancer:

The term blood cancer encompasses disorders that affect the blood, bone marrow and lymphatic system. In the majority of the blood cancers, the red blood cells development is interrupted with uncontrolled division resulting in the abnormal type of cancerous blood cells. These cancerous cells prevent the normal functions like defence or prevention of serious bleeding.

There are three main groups of blood cancer disorders, namely leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. World over, their prevalence varies. Leukaemia affects white blood cells, which play a vital role in infection-fighting in the immune system. Leukaemia produces a high number of immature white blood cells and impacts other blood cells which help balance the immune system and healthy blood.

Lymphoma affects the lymphatic system, which helps to protect the human body from infections and diseases. Lymphoma can develop in multiple body, including bone marrow, blood and other organs. Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, which are found in your bone marrow. Plasma cells produce antibodies which help fight infection. When plasma cells become myelomas they prevent the normal production of antibodies, leaving body’s immune system weakened.

Treatment options for blood cancer:

At American Oncology Institute, treatment of blood cancer is most comprehensive with one of the best skilled and most qualified team of the haematologist. The team includes Dr. Anil Aribandi, Dr. Parinitha Gutha & Dr. S.K. Gupta who are highly qualified and are trained from institutes in India and the UK. Blood cancer treatment is designed after a detailed assessment of the patient considering factors such as type of the blood cancer, the stage it is in etc

Common treatments are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and in some cases if required stem cell or bone marrow transplant.

In chemotherapy anti-cancer drugs are used to fight cancer cells. In radiation therapy, high energy of radiations is given to kill cancer cells. Its use is dependent on the location of the cancer cell or the tissue involved. Accordingly, radiation is targeted either to kill the cancer cell or shrinks cancerous tissue.

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