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*AKA* –>
‘acute lymphocytic leukemia‘
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‘acute lymphoid leukemia‘
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‘ALL‘
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-“acute lymphoblastic leukemia” is an ‘acute’ form of ‘leukemia’, or “cancer of the white blood cells”, characterized by the ‘overproduction’ + ‘accumulation’ of ‘cancerous’, ‘immature white blood cells’, known as ‘lympho-blasts’-
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(in persons with ‘ALL’, ‘lymphoblasts’ are overproduced in the bone marrow and continuously multiply, causing damage and death by inhibiting the production of normal cells (such as ‘red’/’white blood cells’/’platelets’) in the bone marrow and by spreading (‘infiltrating’) to other organs)
(‘ALL” is most common in childhood, with a peak incidence at 2–5 years of age and another peak in ‘old age’)
(the symptoms of ALL are indicative of a reduced production of ‘functional blood cells’, because ‘leukemia’ wastes the resources of the ‘bone marrow’ that are normally used to produce new, functioning blood cells)
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(these symptoms can include…)
‘fever’
‘increased risk of infection’
(especially ‘bacterial infections’ like ‘pneumonia’)
(due to ‘neutropenia’)
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(symptoms of such an infection include…)
‘shortness of breath’
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‘chest pain’
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‘cough’
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‘vomiting’
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‘changes in bowel or bladder habits’
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‘increased tendency to bleed’
(due to ‘thrombocytopenia’)
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(and signs indicative of ‘anemia’, including…)
‘pallor’
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‘tachycardia’
(high heart rate)
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‘fatigue’
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‘headache’
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(about 6,000 cases are reported in the ‘united states’ every year)
(internationally, ALL is more common in ‘caucasians’ than in ‘africans’)
(it is more common in ‘hispanics’ and in ‘latin america’)
(‘cure’ is a realistic goal and is achieved in more than 80% of affected children, although only 20-40% of adults are cured)
(“acute” is defined by the ‘world health organization’ standards, in which greater than 20% of the cells in the ‘bone marrow’ are ‘blasts’)
(‘chronic lymphocytic leukemia’ is defined as having less than 20% ‘blasts’ in the ‘bone marrow’)
(‘ALL’ was one of the first cancers for which an effective ‘chemotherapeutic treatment’ was developed)
(‘anti-folates’ (like ‘aminopterin’ + ‘methotrexate’) were developed in the late 1940s by ‘sidney farber’ + ‘yellapragada subbarow’)
(at that time, a doctor did not need a patient’s or parent’s consent to try an experimental treatment as the ‘nuremberg code’ had not yet been signed)
(desperate to save his patients, ‘farber’ initially tried ‘folic acid supplementation’ as a treatment for ‘ALL’)
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(this had ‘disastrous consequences’ + he likely accelerated the children’s deaths)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥