Leukemia and Lymphoma Flashcards
chronic vs acute
chronic = slow growing
acute = fast
denotes clinical behaviours
what do lymphoblastic, lymphocytic and myeloid refer to
the point in the cell line/cell type at fault
leukemia
cancers of blood and bone marrow (many types)
sees disseminated tumours of white cells present in circulation
potential to spread into tissues
often seen in blood and bone marrow
what are 3 common conditions associated with leukemia
anaemia
neutropenia therefore recurrent infections (reduced numbers of neutrophils)
bleeding (thrombocytopenia)
blast cells
immature cells that are obviously less effective compared to their mature counterparts
lymphoma
cancer of lymphocytes
often solid tumour of lymphocytes (white blood cells) commonly found in lymph nodes and associated tissues
what are the 2 main types of lymphoma
hodgkins lymphoma
non-hodgkins lymphoma
symptoms of lymphoma
fever excessive night sweats lump in neck/armpits or groin itchiness swelling of face and/or neck
hodgkins lymphoma
mainly affects 15-40 year olds
painless disease of lymph nodes
non hodgkins lymphoma
affects any age group
more common in those with wekened immune system e.g HIV infected, immunosuppression
what are the 4 phases of treating haematological malignancies
induction - large dose of chemo to remove disease
remission - patient has no evidence of disease
maintenance and consolidation - low levels of treatment to keep disease at bay
relapse - process restarts (not all patients)
chemotherapy
targets cells with high turnover
predominantly affects cancer cells but can also affect other body cells e.g hair, mouth , GIT
radiotherapy
radiation to kill cancer cells
monoclonal antibodies
antibodies specific to cancer cell antigens produced artificially in large quantities then introduced to body
allogenic stem cell transplant
from a live donor
