Another month has gone and now we are here in the month of September. So, what does September have in store for us?
Well, of course, is BLOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH!!
Photo source: By alex_skp on canva
In light of the awareness month, we will have a series of articles featuring different types of blood cancer. What exactly is blood cancer?
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Blood cancer is a type of cancer that affects the proper physiological function of blood cells. In a normal body, the stem cells inside our bone marrow produce blood cells, such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. These blood cells take up approximately 45% of the total blood volume while the remaining 55% of it is the liquid component of the blood, known as plasma. 1
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Blood cancer occurs when the normal development and production process of the blood cells is disrupted. The uncontrolled growth of abnormal blood cells causes the blood to stop working properly or interferes with the work of the other normal blood cells. In most cases, the cause stems from the mutation of the DNA of the blood cell.2 Blood cancer can be categorised into 2 characteristics -- fast-growing cancer (acute) and slow-growing cancer (chronic). Generally, there are 3 main types of blood cancers, which are leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Based on the data from Globocan 20203, the incidence ranking for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is rank 8, followed by leukaemia at rank 9, myeloma at rank 22 and Hodgkin lymphoma at rank 24. Each type of blood cancer has its own risk factors, symptoms, treatment approach and prognosis.
Photo source: Oncoplus Hospital
Next week, we will talk in-depth about the first type of blood cancer -- lymphoma. Stay tuned and see you at the next article!
A word from DOC2US
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