The defeat of the blood system, characterized by the formation of malignant neoplasms in it, leukemia has several of the most common forms. These include, in particular, monoblast acute leukemia, which has its own peculiarities of manifestation, characteristic course and certain methods of treatment.
What is acute monoblast leukemia?
This is a rare type of leukemia, this disease manifests itself in the form of severe damage to the liver cells, a significant increase in the size of lymph nodes and the possible frequent manifestation of ulcerative necrotic stomatitis.
This occurs when blood clone cells appear in the blood and causes damage and infiltration of the spleen, parts of the lymph nodes, which causes the appearance of disease-specific manifestations. Monoblasts are not mature cells and therefore can not fully perform their normal functions.
What are the main causes of acute monoblast leukemia and what factors can trigger this disease?
Reasons for
Currently, due to numerous studies of medicines, the mechanism of the disease course has been established and well studied. The causes that cause its occurrence, are still not precisely established.
In the course of the progression of this type of leukemia, activation and active development of pathological cells occurs;The mutation process occurs in the stem cells of the bone marrow.
However, the most important factors provoking the onset of manifestations of acute monoblastic leukemia include the following:
- work in the production associated with active radiation. For example, radiologists are regularly exposed to significant doses of radiation, and even with all modern protection from it, their body feels a negative impact of irradiation;
- is also considered to be a provoking factor in the intake of certain medications;
- ionizing radiation, which can occur in domestic and industrial conditions;
- the presence of relatives who already have cancer, also should be considered a provoking factor;
- frequent contact with solvents( for example, benzene) - this is possible both in everyday life and in production conditions;
- treatment of oncological diseases with the help of chemotherapy - excessive doses of radiation cause a mutation of healthy stem cells of the bone marrow;
- defeat the body with unknown viruses.
With the progression of acute monoblastic leukemia, active growth of mutated stem cells occurs, which gradually displace the healthy hematopoietic cells necessary for the body to hematopoiesis.
The disease in its further development is able to give metastases to neighboring healthy tissues and organs, and the constant process of intoxication of an organism during the decay of healthy cells causes the strongest human poisoning with decay products.
Note from the author: , the provoking factors of monoblast acute leukemia can also cause other serious diseases, so avoiding them or maximizing neutralization will preserve health and prolong their life.
How is this disease manifested and what are the features of its symptoms?
Symptoms of the disease
Acute monoblastic leukemia is characterized by the presence of two stages that differ in their manifestation - acute and extensive forms of the disease have differences in both manifestations and in a diagnosis that can be preliminarily diagnosed with leukemia of this species.
Acute form of
With this form, an active growth of immature malignant mutated cells that can not perform their functions and rapidly break down.
At the same time, their disintegration in the body and the accumulation of decomposition products are observed, which causes strong intoxication.
The acute form of the disease is characterized by a rapid manifestation of external symptoms, cancer cells multiply instantly, there is rapid metastasis, and the prognosis in this case is extremely disappointing: usually the disease wins a person within one to two months.
Chronic form of
For the chronic form of acute monoblastic leukemia, slow multiplication of pathological cells is characteristic, while symptomatology is practically invisible, which allows the disease to gradually develop and capture all new parts of a healthy organism.
Malignant cells, when multiplying, significantly weaken human immunity, and even small wounds begin to heal badly, it becomes very susceptible even to minor infections.
In addition, acute monoblastic leukemia is characterized by two stages of development, which also differ in appearance and main symptomatology.
The initial and expanded stages of the pathological process are distinguished. Consider them more carefully.
Symptoms of the initial stage
For the initial stage, nonspecific manifestations are usually characterized, which do not always attract increased attention and for this reason the disease starts to progress and develop in the future.
Symptoms of the initial stage include:
- tenderness in the joints during movement;
- muscle pulling pain;
- overall fatigue;
- fast fatigue even under low loads;
- lowering the overall health level;
- regular slight increase in body temperature;
- abdominal pain;
- manifestations of hemorrhages in small amounts;
- muscle pain;
- enlargement of lymph nodes.
Since all manifestations of this stage of acute monoblastic leukemia are not very pronounced and can be a signal of other diseases, the patient often does not pay due attention to them and does not take the necessary measures: they do not go to the medical institution for examination, do not perform diagnostics and do not perform the necessary treatment.
As a result, the disease is found at later stages of development, which already significantly hinders treatment and causes an unfavorable prognosis.
Signs of the advanced stage of
When the disease progresses, the manifestations are more pronounced and are expressed as follows:
- a severity arises in the area of both sub-sires;
- develop frequent abdominal pain;
- increases the size of the liver, as well as the spleen, which can be felt even when palpated;
- gingival hyperplasia and severe manifestations of stomatitis;
- there is a tendency to bleeding: nasal, uterine and gastric;
- on the skin surface, red plaques of considerable size are formed;
- in men shows soreness and redness of the testicles.
When the stage of the disease is developed, such common symptoms as blanching of the skin, decreased body temperature, night sweats, general excessive weakness, a tendency to infectious diseases due to a decrease in immunity, there is a sharp loss of body weight, there may be vomiting, nausea, muscle weaknessand general deterioration of state of health.
Diagnostics
A number of special tests are performed for the diagnosis, as well as subjective complaints of the patient.
The main methods of diagnosis include blood test, myelogram, lumbar puncture, X-ray and ultrasound.
Consider these methods more carefully.
Blood test
Since the main manifestation of acute monoblastic leukemia is the active multiplication of pathological monoblasts, their presence in the blood test can indicate the onset of the process in the body.
Therefore, the analysis of blood is taken precisely for immature forms of ballast monocytes.
Myelogram
For studying the bone marrow tissues, a puncture is taken, which is studied with the help of a myelogram. This method allows you to clarify the stage of the pathological process and its activity, as well as carry out some additional studies:
- with the help of a cytogenetic study, it is possible to detect the presence of changes in chromosomes, which became the primary cause of this form of leukemia;
- immunophenotyping allows you to determine the type of monoblastic leukemia, which is important for determining further treatment;
- with the help of a cytochemical study makes possible the implementation of differential diagnosis.
Lumbar puncture
This type of study allows to determine the degree of involvement in the pathological tumor process of the nervous system of the patient.
This indicator is also important for the design of a disease treatment program.
US
With the help of ultrasound, it becomes possible to determine the degree of liver damage and enlarged spleen - this indicator is especially important for establishing the stage of the tumor process. The
ultrasound also allows us to specify the areas of leukemoid infiltration that are located in other organs.
Radiography
With the help of chest X-ray, it is possible to establish the presence of manifestations of mediastinal widening and the degree of lesion and infiltration in the lung tissue.
Data acquisition with the help of the listed diagnostic methods allows to get the widest possible picture of the disease, which facilitates the preparation of the treatment method.
Methods for treating patients with
The goal of any treatment for acute monoblastic leukemia is to maximally destroy pathological tumor cells that actively divide or are at rest in the patient's body.
The intensity of therapy makes it successful in treatment - with the effect being both active, proliferating cells, and non-proliferating elements of blood.
Treatment of this type of leukemia can be carried out by the following methods:
- chemotherapy - its goal is to reduce the degree of activity of tumor cells, and for this hormonal or cytostatic drugs that suppress the further division of the tumor clone are applied depending on the stage of the process and the patient's condition. Chemotherapy is a very aggressive type of treatment, so after each course of its administration should follow the period of remission and recovery. Possible loss of hair, deterioration of the skin, teeth and nails. The doctor examines the patient after each chemotherapy course;
- maintenance therapy - it is necessary to maintain the patient in the process of treatment, because his body is constantly undermined by the disease, and chemotherapy also significantly worsens his state of health. Therefore, for patients with acute monoblast leukemia, practically sterile conditions should be created and immunostimulating therapy should be performed;
- bone marrow transplantation( or transplantation) - this type of treatment is indicated in cases when chemotherapy failed to bring the expected results and the patient's condition continues to worsen. Also, a transplant is prescribed when a relapse occurs. For the transplantation should be very carefully selected to select a donor, after a successful bone marrow transplantation the patient's condition is significantly improved and stabilized.
Treatment of acute monoblastic leukemia is a difficult task, as the drugs and methods used for this act, destroying, not only the pathological cells, but also the healthy ones. Therefore, their choice should be completed only after a careful analysis of the conducted study of the patient's condition and taking into account his current condition.
Note from the author: treatment of acute leukemia will be most successful if it is detected at the earliest stages, so any deviations from the norm should be considered as an excuse to call a doctor. Strict implementation of the doctor's recommendations and consistent treatment will significantly prolong the patient's life.
Prognosis and life expectancy of
Treatment of acute monoblast leukemia is carried out by doctors, hematologists and oncologists. The prognosis can be made depending on several factors that significantly affect the patient's well-being:
- type of disease;
- stage of the pathological process;
- of the patient;
- tolerability of treatment;
- degree of damage to the bone marrow and other tissues and organs.
The lifespan of the patient also depends on how much the bone marrow cells are affected and how the treatment is tolerated.