What are the symptoms of early-stage leukemia?
Leukemia: A Malignant Clonal Disease of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Leukemia is classified into various types based on its pathogenesis, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). Here's an overview:
I. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
- Anemia: Caused by proliferation and infiltration of tumor cells in the bone marrow, inhibiting normal hematopoiesis.
- Tendency to Bleed: Resulting from thrombocytopenia and coagulation dysfunction.
- Infection: Due to suppressed normal immune function, patients are prone to severe infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, stomatitis, and perianal abscesses.
- Fever: Some patients present with persistent low-grade fever as the initial symptom, unresponsive to antibiotic treatment.
- Bone Pain: Arising from tumor cell infiltration or osteolytic destruction.
- Hepatosplenomegaly: Caused by leukemia cell infiltration into the liver and spleen.
- Central Nervous System Damage: Resulting from extramedullary infiltration of primitive and immature cells into the meninges, brain parenchyma, and spinal cord.
II. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
Early symptoms may include fatigue, weakness, weight loss, and loss of appetite. As the disease progresses, symptoms like fever, joint pain, discomfort under the sternum, night sweats, skin itching, and skin rashes may appear. If the digestive system is affected, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, and diarrhea may occur.
III. Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML)
This type of leukemia has a slow onset, characterized by fatigue, weight loss, low-grade fever, night sweats, cough, sputum production, hemoptysis, dyspnea, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. A few patients may also experience palpitations and edema. Additionally, symptoms such as gingival hyperplasia, epistaxis, menorrhagia, increased intracranial pressure, optic papilledema, and visual impairment may occur.
Patients are advised to promptly consult a hematologist, undergo relevant tests including complete blood count, bone marrow aspiration, and chromosome analysis, and receive targeted treatment as prescribed after a definitive diagnosis is made.
