What is the actual cause death with Acute Leukemia ?!


Question:

What is the actual cause death with Acute Leukemia ?

male 64 yo with acute luekemia (diagnosed 1 yr) is it mainly from infections or heart,liver,or lung failure or what ?


Answers:

I haved worked in cancer research for many years. When someone dies from leukemia it is usally from a combination of a superinfection (because your white cell counts are practically zero) and from clotting disorders (because you aren't making platelets either).
Respiratory infections seem to be the primary route (especially pneumonias). Viral infections can also play a part.
The actual cause of death is most likely what is called multi-system organ failure, because if you are sick enough to be in a hospital, you eventually go into liver or renal failure from the infection. Everything crashes together after that.
There are many treatments out there for leukemia, and many studies underway. If you keep as healthy as you can (avoiding large crowds, handwashing, etc.) and continue with your injections of filgrastim and epo, then you do lower your chances of getting infected in the first place.
Good luck.
P.S. your life-span with this disease is entirely individual and depends greatly on how well you respond to treatment and whether or not you have a successful bone marrow transplant.




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