Pregnancy and Health Care

Archive for the ‘Childhood Leukimia’ Category

It is a disease which, though often referred to as blood cancer, actually affects the tissue responsible for manufacturing, ie the bone marrow, spleen and lymph nodes. It is the most common cancer in children, but treatments are carried out have a healing effect by 50 and 70% of cases.

Features
is a malignant disease (sometimes called blood cancer) and is characterized by an arrest in the maturation of the cells responsible for the formation of blood constituents with proliferation and uncontrolled growth of immature blood cells. This proliferation originates from the bone marrow level, from which it spreads to the blood and responsible for manufacturing different tissues, ie spleen and lymph nodes. A genetic mutation produces an alteration in these tissues and leads to start producing an abnormal number of white blood cells and can become so numerous that the blood will have a whitish appearance.

These white blood cells that fail to mature, called blasts, produce two major effects: do not perform properly its function of defending the body, and live much longer, so in a shorter or longer period of time so that proliferate difficult to create in the heart of red blood cells (which carry oxygen inside the body) and platelets (which deal with blood clotting). Read the rest of this entry »

Considering that all body organs are composed of tissues, the tissues are composed of sets of cells, which are cells responsible for growth, evolution, and the renewal of the organs and tissues, it is necessary to know that when there is an alteration in a cell, or that this has served its purpose and responded to the demand for organs and tissues, it dies. If the cell survives, it will cause the same cells, other than normal and, escaping the normal mechanisms of control, proliferate causing a set of “sick” cells and abnormal to be located in a tissue or organ, can travel by blood to other organs or tissues, causing tumors of many types and in different locations.

Growing out of control, the cell becomes abnormal sizes and shapes, destroy neighboring cells, organs and bones, consuming part of the nutrients and energy from the patient, and weakening the body’s defenses. In medicine these diseased cells called cancer, a disease that can occur at any stage of life, from birth and throughout the development of human beings. Cancer is not a communicable disease. Cancer is an uncontrolled spread of cells in any organ or tissue, which occurs when a group of cells escapes the normal control mechanisms in their replication and differentiation.

Childhood Cancer
On the occasion of World Day against cancer, February 4, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), devotes its celebration this year to the fight against childhood cancer because of that today, this disease is the second most common cause Infant mortality in children aged between 1 and 14. Statistics teach that each year more than 160 000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the world. 80% of pediatric patients live in developing countries. According to the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) in developed countries, three out of four children with cancer survive at least five years after diagnosis, thanks to advances in diagnosis and treatment of this disease. In developing countries, more than half of children diagnosed with cancer is likely to die. In Spain, after accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of infant mortality. Today, both the incidence and prevalence of childhood cancer are on the rise. Because of that, it becomes increasingly necessary in a better and early diagnosis and effective treatments.

The most common cancers in children
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the most common cancers in children are leukemia (cancer of white blood cells), followed by lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes), brain tumors (cancer that can be placed in many parts the brain), and osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Tumors account for 80% of all cases. Leukemia is the leading cancer occurs in childhood. There are several types. The most common in children is acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and often have children aged between 2 and 8. After leukemia, brain tumors are the second most common cancer in childhood. May occur between 5 and 10 years. And followed by tumors are lymphomas, which are cancers that develop from the lymphatic system. Less frequently, there are usually small intestine cancer, liver, spleen, nervous system and bone marrow.

While in Mexico, leukemia remains the most common cancer in children, with early diagnosis to 70% of patients can achieve a total cure. According to Dr. Hugo Rivera Marquez, Chief of Pediatric Oncology Hospital National Medical Center Siglo XXI IMSS, are diagnosed each year, nationwide, 7 000 200 cases of cancer in children, most of them are developed by multifactorial factors and less by genetic or hereditary causes.

The specialist recommended that parents, be alert to changes and symptoms they observe in their children such as prolonged fever, swelling in the abdomen, pallor, loss of energy and weight quickly and headaches persist. Bleeding may also occur, loss of balance, sudden change in behavior of the child or the child and decrease or loss of vision. As in all cases, it is essential to see a doctor and rule out self-medication. If you make a diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment, the prognosis for children with leukemia is very good.

Types of leukemia in children
Approximately 98% of leukemias in children are acute and are divided into acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). About 60% of children with leukemia suffer first and about 38% of AML. Lymphocytic how the disease occurs more often in small 2 to 8 years , with a marked incidence at the age of 4 years. If a child has a twin who was diagnosed with the disease before age 6, has a chance of developing ALL or AML of 20% to 25%. In general, twins and other siblings of children with leukemia have an increased risk of developing the disease two to four times higher than average. Read the rest of this entry »

For a long time to identify the cells that cause leukemia, was one of the great mysteries for researchers in the cancer. Although it was known that the causal factor was primarily genetic, recently made ??an important discovery that has opened new hopes to the treatment of childhood leukemia, -the most common type of cancer in children and adolescents. Medical advances in the treatment of this disease, which until recently was considered fatal, have been enormous, to the point that today, we talk about a survival rate reaches 80% in cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the type of leukemia most often in children. Thanks to a joint study by scientists at the University of Oxford, Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in London and the Association of Cancer Research Medical Research, has taken an important step in the fight against childhood leukemia to discover “the origin “of this disease. The results of this research were recently published in the U.S. journal “Science.”

The finding came after monitoring the case of two twin four-year-old living in southern England, of which one was healthy and one affected by this type of cancer . Although both had preleukemic cells, only one of them developed the disease. The scientists found that a genetic mutation is responsible for the origin of childhood leukemia and explained that “the development of blood cell cancer in childhood, requires a” small but crucial group of cells “suffer two mutations.” The first occurs during the first period of gestation and the second during the first months of life the child. According to experts, this second genetic modification could be triggered by a common infection (such as a cold), preleukemic cells to transform into malignant cells resistant to chemotherapy.

According to the study, “1% of children have preleukemic cells, but of these, very few suffer the second and Mutation. “This finding is encouraging for the scientific community, it opens the way for the investigation of shorter treatments, less aggressive and less side effects, which seek to attack only the malignant cells. Now the new challenge of pediatric oncology is not only to cure cancer, but to provide the best possible quality of life for children with this disease.

According to a study by the University of California Berkeley, consumption of fruits, vegetables and foods rich in protein before pregnancy reduces the risk of developing leukemia in children.

Fruit and vegetable during the investigation research, we studied the case of 138 women with children who had lymphoblastic leukemia and compared with a control group of women with children who were born healthy. After comparing the diets of women during the twelve months prior to pregnancy, there was a relationship between decreased risk of childhood leukemia and consumption of certain foods such as fruits, vegetables and foods rich in protein.

A study by the University Hospital Arrixaca (Murcia, Spain) linked the risk of childhood leukemia with prolonged exposure to air pollution from traffic.

One of the main findings of this investigation determined that the fact of living during pregnancy to less than 100 meters of a road with heavy traffic in children doubled the risk of developing leukemia.

Specifically, this research studied the health of 187 children who were exposed to air pollution during pregnancy, with the result that 45.5% of them (85 children) had hematologic malignancies, whether leukemia or lymphoma.

Snuff In 2005, a team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) concluded that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of childhood leukemia. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The investigation showed that carcinogens in snuff products can cross the placenta and directly affect fetal genetic material, causing injury associated with various types of childhood leukemia. The results were obtained from follow-up of 50 women undergoing prenatal diagnosis and conducting 800 interviews.

After analysis, we found that the fetuses of smoking mothers showed a significant increase in chromosome abnormalities compared to those of nonsmokers.

A woman is diagnosed with leukemia when she was pregnant. In this case, it would be advisable to delay chemotherapy until after birth. If a woman needs to undergo prior to treatment, it seems useful to begin chemotherapy after the 12th week of pregnancy when the fetus has passed the stage of risk. In some cases it will be necessary to consider the option of abortion.

If the leukemia is diagnosed in the first trimester of pregnancy is not recommended as it continues forward. Chemotherapy, in those early months, could harm the fetus by preventing normal development. Also this usually triggers a spontaneous abortion.

If the leukemia is diagnosed later, the risks to the fetus are much lower. It is usual to treat the patient with chemotherapy and, when the fetus is mature (at around 8 months) is necessary to induce labor, thus reducing risks.