The cancer that I have chosen to do research on is leukemia. I chose to research leukemia because there are many different types of this cancer and I found it very interesting. When you think of cancer, you generally automatically think of lung cancer or leukemia. Cancer happens when the cells are not doing what they would do normally. For example, normal cells grow and divide and know when to stop. They also die when they’re supposed to. Cancer cells do the opposite. They continue to grow and divide without stopping and don’t die off. This makes it so there are more cells than needed, causing tumours and other issues. Leukemia affects the blood and bone marrow of the person who has it. The most common cancer is lung cancer, which affects …show more content…
Some risk factors include high doses of ionizing radiation, rare viruses, and smoking. They also believe genetic abnormalities, including down syndrome, may be a factor. Adult leukemia risk factors are different than those of children. In adults, avoiding radiation as well as agricultural risks will help more than it would with children. Most leukemia cases are not believed to be hereditary, but certain genetic conditions that are hereditary can be passed on that increase the chances of getting …show more content…
The treatment the patient will get depends on a lot of factors including age, general health, which leukemia they have, and what stage it’s at. There are three different types of therapy the patient can get to help. Induction therapy kills the leukemia cells in the blood marrow and in the bone. This helps the patient have a remission, where they won’t have the symptoms of the cancer for a period of time. This normally lasts four weeks and is done in a hospital. Consolidation therapy kills any of the cancer cells that may be present but don’t show up when you test for them. This therapy includes chemotherapy and possibly a stem cell transplant. It normally takes many months, but the patient won’t have to stay overnight in a hospital. Maintenance therapy prevents any remaining leukemia cells from growing. This uses lower doses of chemotherapy than doing one of the other two types of therapy. This therapy is given with pills and once a month IV treatments. This option normally lasts for three years, but the patient is normally able to go back to how active they were before they started treatment during this