Blood cancer has now become a common term for all of us. It's a serious health-related issue which needs urgent medical attention. But there are various misbelieves regarding cancer in our society which hampers our judgement. People start losing hope once they are diagnosed with blood cancer. But we should thoroughly discuss it with our physician before we come to any conclusion.
Factors determining treatment outcome:
There are various factors which can significantly influence the treatment outcome.
First of all, it is important to know the type of blood cancer. Because most of the blood cancers like CML, CLL, Pediatric ALL and lymphoma have a very good outcome with more than 80 per cent cure rate. Only a few diseases like AML have high treatment-related mortality.
Secondly, the stage is an important factor for some diseases like lymphoma and myeloma. Earlier the stage better is the prognosis.
Thirdly, there are other important factors that play a vital role in determining the treatment outcome. Like general health condition of the patient, hygienic conditions, early diagnosis and treatment, quality medicines, regular patient monitoring and proper management of complications.
What causes blood cancer
The commonly asked question is why we have blood cancer. The exact cause of blood cancer is still not known. It may affect anyone of any age group. But some of the causes may be genetic, familial, toxic exposures, pesticides, etc.
What could be the symptoms?
The symptoms may vary depending upon the disease and also from person to person. There may be a generalised weakness, fatigue, high-grade fever, bleeding or swelling in various parts of the body, etc.
Cost of therapy
In blood cancer treatment, supportive care, including antibiotic, other medicines, hospital stay and blood products, plays an important role. The cost of chemotherapy is minimum in most of the cases. So, to keep the cost of therapy minimum, good hygiene is very much important.
Improved treatment methods
With the availability of new chemotherapies, it is now possible to cure blood cancer permanently and prolong a patient's life. Again with new bioengineered non-chemo medicines, cancer therapy outcome has significantly improved without long-term side effects.
