Leukemia. Treatment in Israel

Israel is often recognized as a leader in the advanced treatment of leukemia and various other cancers.

In Israel there are world-famous physicians specializing in the treatment of leukemia, which can not be replaced by specialists from abroad in performing operations.

What is leukemia?

Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells. It begins in the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside most bones. The bone marrow is the place where blood cells are produced.

When you are healthy, your bone marrow produces:

• White blood cells that help the body fight infection.

• Red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of your body.

• Platelets that help your blood clot.

If you are sick with leukemia, the bone marrow begins to produce many abnormal white blood cells called leukemia cells. They do not function like normal white blood cells, they grow faster than normal cells and do not stop growing when needed.

Over time, leukemic cells can displace normal blood cells. This can lead to serious problems, such as anemia, bleeding and infection. Leukemia cells can also spread to lymph nodes or other organs and cause swelling or pain.

What causes leukemia?

Experts do not know exactly what causes leukemia. But there are some risk factors for the development of a certain type of leukemia. There is a possibility that you are prone to leukemia if you:

• exposed to a large amount of radiation.

• exposed to certain chemicals at work, such as benzene.

• underwent chemotherapy for the treatment of another cancer.

• Have Down syndrome or other genetic diseases.

• smoke.

But most people who have these risk factors do not get leukemia. Like most people who are sick with leukemia, they do not have any known risk factors.

What are the symptoms of leukemia?

Symptoms may depend on what type of leukemia you have, but the common symptoms include:

• fever and night sweats;

• headache;

• easily visible bruising or bleeding;

• pain in the bones and joints;

• pain or swelling in the abdomen due to enlarged spleen;

• enlarged lymph nodes in the armpit, neck or groin;

• large infection with infections;

• a feeling of extreme fatigue or weakness;

• loss of weight and appetite.

Treatment of leukemia

Leukemia is usually treated by a hematologist-oncologist. These are doctors who specialize in blood diseases and cancer. Treatment depends on the type and stage of cancer. Some slow-growing forms of leukemia do not need immediate treatment. This is called "watchful waiting." Nevertheless, the treatment of leukemia usually involves chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and possibly stem cell transplantation.

Bone marrow cells that produce new blood are known as stem cells. Stem cell transplantation replaces stem cells of the patient with healthy donor cells. This can keep your body from further production of cancer cells. The diseased bone marrow must be destroyed before stem cell transplantation. Doctors do this with chemotherapy and radiation. Radiation therapy can be aimed at both a specific part and the entire body. This is known as whole-body irradiation.

Biological therapy can also be used to treat leukemia. It uses drugs to improve the human immune system.