Leukaemia and lymphoma Flashcards
Which cell line is usually affected when a person developed leukaemia?
- Usually Lymphoid
What can any haematological cell line turn at any number of stages in the system?
- Neoplastic (an abnormal new growth of tissues in animals; a tumour)
When in a haematological cell line is the malignancy potentially more aggressive?
- The earlier in the cell line
What is haematological malignancy caused by?
- DNA mutation
(usually translocation)
- Switches ‘off’ a tumour suppressor gene or swithches ‘on’ an oncogene
What is an oncogene?
- Any of various mutated genes that cause the transformation of normal cells into cancerous cells
What are 3 characteristics of cancer cells?
- Uncontrolled proliferation
- Loss of apoptosis
- Loss of normal functions/products
What does ‘acute’ mean?
- Very severe
- Happens suddenly
What does chronic mean?
- Can take many years to show
What is and example of acute lymphoid?
- Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
What is an example of acute myeloid?
- Acute myeloid leukaemia
What are different types of chronic lymphoma? (4 points)
- Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
- Hodgkin lymphoma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Multiple myeloma
What are lymphomas?
- Solid lumps of haematogenous cells
What is an example of chronic myeloma?
- Chronic myeloid leukaemia a
- myeloproliferative disorders
The two types of leukaemia are acute or chronic and they denote the clinical behaviour of the leukaemia. What does this mean?
- Is it going to be a rapid problem or a rumbling problem
What does lymphocytic, lymphoblastic or myeloid describe?
- The point in the cell lines or cell type at fault
What does lymphocytic mean?
- Looks like the cells they are supposed to be
What does lymphoblastic mean?
- Differentiation is so far up the line you can’t really tell what the cell is going to be
What des ‘blast’ mean?
- An immature cell
Which type of leukaemia is serious and life-threatening?
- Acute leukaemia
Leukaemia describes a group of cancers of the bone marrow which prevent normal manufacture of the blood and therefore result in what 3 things?
- Anaemia
- Infection (neutropenia)
- Bleeding (thrombocytopenia)
What is neutropenia?
- An abnormally low level of neutrophils in the blood. Neutrophils are WBC’s produced in the bone marrow that ingest bacteria. This is a serious disorder because it makes the body vulnerable to bacterial and fun gal infections
What is thrombocytopenia?
- An abnormal drop in the number of blood cells involved in forming blood clots. These cells are called platelets
What is meant by pathogenesis?
- The manner of development of a disease
What is the pathogenesis of leukaemia?
- Clonal proliferation
- Replacement of marrow
- Increasing marginalisation of productive normal marrow:
1. Marrow failure
2. Organ infiltration
What is the clinical presentation of leukaemia? (6 points)
- Anaemia (problems with carrying oxygen)
- Neutropenia (problems with infection)
- Thrombocytopenia (Problems with bleeding)
- Lymphadenopathy - neck lumps (may or may not be palpable)
- Splenomegaly/hepatomegaly - swollen abdomen
- Bone pain - especially in children (because bone marrow is trying to expand in the bone cavity)
What is lymphadenopathy?
- Neck lumps
- Disease of the lymph nodes
What is splenomegaly?
- Enlargement of the spleen
- Swollen abdomen
What is hepatomegaly?
- Enlargement of the liver
- Swollen abdomen
What are the progressive signs of anaemia? (4 points)
- Breathlessness
- Tiredness
- Easily fatigued
- Chest pain/angina
What is angina caused by?
- Caused when heart muscles receive insufficient oxygen-rich blood
What are the common signs of anaemia? (3 points)
- Pallor (an unhealthy pale appearance)
- Signs of cardiac failure (ankle swelling, breathlessness)
- Nail changes (brittle nails, koilonychia)
What is koilonychia?
- A condition that affects the shape of nails. They curve inward and look like a spoon
Neutropenia is related to infections associated with portals of entry into the body. What are examples of these? (5 points)
- Mouth
- Throat (tonsillitis, pharyngitis)
- Chest (bronchitis, pneumonia)
- Skin (impetigo, cellulitis)
- Perianal (thrush, abscesses)
What is pneumonia?
- A swelling of the tissue in one or both of the lungs. It is usually caused by a bacterial infection
What is impetigo?
- Bacterial infection of the surface of the skin
- Usually due to bacteria Staph. aureus
- (common in young children)
Neutropenia allows the reactivation of latent infections. What does this mean?
- Infections that stay in the body waiting for the ability to act again
What can neutropenia lead to in relation to infections?
-leads to increased severity and frequency of infections and can rapidly lead to systemic infection
What is a systemic infection?
- The cause of a systemic infection comprises of bacteria or virus
- The main characteristic of such infection is that it affects the bloodstream of an individual, with the result of that being that the symptoms spread to the whole of the body
What are the symptoms of neutropenia? (2 points)
- Recurrent infection (as don’t have the immune response to contain it)
- Unusual severity of infection
What are the signs of neutropenia? (3 points)
- Unusual patterns of infection and rapid spread
- Will respond to treatment but recur
- Signs of systemic involvement - fever, rigors, chills
When we do investigations on someone with neutropenia what do we usually find is the cause of infection?
- Unusual pathogens, usually bacterial
What are the common symptoms of bleeding caused by thrombocytopenia? (4 points)
- Bruising easily or spontaneously
- Minor cuts failing to clot
- Gingival bleeding or nose bleeds (spontaneous)
- Menorrhagia (excessive menstruation)
What is menorrhagia?
- Excessive menstruation
What are the common signs of bleeding caused by thrombocytopenia? (4 points)
- Bruising
- Petechiae (red splodges)
- BOP (bleeding on probing)
- Bleeding/bruising following procedure
What is petechiae?
- Red splodges - caused by bleeding into the skin
What type of blood cell does acute lymphoblastic leukaemia affect?
- White blood cells
What is the peak age for someone to develop acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?
- 4 but does occur in adults
How many people a year are affected by acute lymphoblastic leukaemia?
- 25 per 1,000,000 people per year