Leukaemia Flashcards
what secondary implications/diseases can leukaemia cause?
anaemia
infection (neutropenia)
bleeding (thrombocytopenia)
how does a haematological malignancy usually occur?
translocation mutation is usually first.
this switches on or off a tumour suppressor gene or an oncogene.
leads to uncontrolled clonal proliferation and replacement of bone marrow with leukaemic cells.
difference between lymphoid and myeloid?
lymphoid is cells of the adaptive immune system - T-cells and B-cells
myeloid is innate immune cells - neutrophils, eosinophils, etc
how may a patient present with leukaemia?
anaemia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia
spinomegaly / hepatomegaly (abdominal swelling due to reprocessing of RBC at high rate)
bone pain typically in children
what signs and symptoms may a patient have with anaemia
pallor, signs of cardiac failure e.g. swollen ankles are all signs.
breathlessness, tiredness and easy fatigue, chest pain and angina
neutropenia may present in which ways?
recurrent infection e.g. tonsillitis, skin infection such as impetigo, bronchitis or pneumonia from chest infection. perianal infection e.g. thrush.
reactivation of latent infections such as TB or herpes virus.
look for reduced RBC and platelet count
what are symptoms and signs of someone that suffers from bleeding?
symptoms include easy bruising, minor cuts failing to clot, often nose or gingival bleeding or abnormal menstrual bleeding
signs include bruising, petechiae (bleeding blotch onto skin), bleeding on probing, and bleeding when brushing
what are the 4 types of leukaemia? What are they?
chronic lymphocytic - slow and produces too many adaptive immune cells
acute lymphoblastic - produces too many white blood cells at a quick rate
chronic myeloid - slow progression, produce too many abnormal myeloid WBCs
acute myeloid - fast progression produce too many abnormal myeloid WBCs
