The white cells in the blood grow very quickly, over a matter of days to weeks. Sometimes a patient with acute leukemia has no symptoms or has normal blood work even a few weeks or months before the diagnosis. The change can be quite dramatic.
People often feel ill quite quickly. Most symptoms of acute leukaemia are caused by leukaemia cells filling the bone marrow. This means healthy blood cells do not move into the blood as normal.
What is Leukemia (Blood Cancer)? Leukemia starts in the soft, inner part of the bones (bone marrow), but often moves quickly into the blood. It can then spread to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs.
Common leukemia signs and symptoms include: Fever or chills. Persistent fatigue, weakness. Frequent or severe infections.
Leukemia starts when the DNA of a single cell in your bone marrow changes (mutates). DNA is the “instruction code” that tells a cell when to grow, how to develop and when to die. Because of the mutation, or coding error, leukemia cells keep multiplying.
There are currently no at-home tests that a person may use to aid leukemia diagnosis. If an individual has concerns about their health, they should contact a doctor as soon as possible.
Bone pain caused by leukaemia is most commonly felt in the long bones of the arms and legs, or in the ribs and sternum of the rib cage.
During the progression of leukemia, white blood cells (neoplastic leukocytes) found in bone marrow may begin to filter into the layers of the skin, resulting in skin lesions. “It looks like red-brown to purple firm bumps or nodules and represents the leukemia cells depositing in the skin,” Forrestel says.
Leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) can cause bone or joint pain, usually because your bone marrow has become overcrowded with cancer cells. At times, these cells may form a mass near the spinal cord's nerves or in the joints.
Tiny spots called petechiae
One symptom that some people with leukemia might notice is tiny red spots on their skin. These pinpoints of blood are called petechiae. On fair and light skin tones, these may appear as red dots. On darker skin tones, they may be darker than the surrounding skin and less noticeable.
By looking at a sample of your blood, your doctor can determine if you have abnormal levels of red or white blood cells or platelets — which may suggest leukemia. A blood test may also show the presence of leukemia cells, though not all types of leukemia cause the leukemia cells to circulate in the blood.
Age-specific incidence rates fall gradually from age 0-4 and remain stable throughout childhood and early adulthood, rates rise sharply from around age 55-59. The highest rates are in in the 85 to 89 age group for females and males. Incidence rates are significantly lower in females than males in most age groups.
Who gets leukemia? Although it is often thought of as a children's disease, most cases of leukemia occur in older adults. More than half of all leukemia cases occur in people over the age of 65.
Bone and Joint Pain and Leukemia
Bone pain is most commonly felt in the long bones in the arms and legs, as well as in the ribs and sternum (breastbone). Joint pain tends to affect the large joints, such as those in the hips and shoulders.
Bone pain can occur in leukemia patients when the bone marrow expands from the accumulation of abnormal white blood cells and may manifest as a sharp pain or a dull pain, depending on the location. The long bones of the legs and arms are the most common location to experience this pain.
Low backache as an initial manifestation of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults has been rarely reported. In this hematological disorder, although bone marrow is replaced by malignant cells, not many cases of low backache as an initial presentation of ALL are reported.
Leukemia can cause a range of symptoms. You might feel weak, dizzy, and nauseous. You might also notice that you're bruising very easily or that your skin is very pale. These various symptoms happen because leukemia affects different parts of your body.
Clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that stress-related biobehavioral factors are associated with accelerated progression of several types of cancer, including solid epithelial tumors and hematopoietic tumors such as leukemia (Antoni et al., 2006; Chida et al., 2008).
Chronic leukemia usually gets worse slowly, over months to years, while acute leukemia develops quickly and progresses over days to weeks. The two main types of leukemia can be further organized into groups that are based on the type of white blood cell that is affected — lymphoid or myeloid.
While the exact cause of leukemia—or any cancer, for that matter—is unknown, there are several risk factors that have been identified, such as radiation exposure, previous cancer treatment and being over the age of 65.
Oral manifestations occur frequently in leukemic patients and may present as initial evidence of the disease (5). They include petechial hemorrhages of the tongue, lips, posterior hard and soft palate, gingival hyperplasia, spontaneous gingival bleeding, oral ulcerations and mucosal pallor (1, 5).
Leukemia cutis appears as red or purplish red, and it occasionally looks dark red or brown. It affects the outer skin layer, the inner skin layer, and the layer of tissue beneath the skin. The rash can involve flushed skin, plaques, and scaly lesions. It most commonly appears on the trunk, arms, and legs.