possible Leukemia Causes and Risk Factors

Leukemia is a disease that is considered to be life-threatening. It requires prompt intervention when discovered, in order to maximize the chances of recovering straight through definite medicine and therapy. Leukemia is basically a type of cancer of the bone marrow and blood, caused by inappropriate cellular activity. The disease can be of different forms, agreeing to the types of blood cells that cause its development. Also, if leukemia is developing rapidly, it is called acute leukemia, while if the disease is developing slowly, it is referred to as chronic leukemia.

The direct leukemia causes are still unknown. In present, medical science isn't able to fabricate the definite leukemia causes. However, a strong relationship in the middle of inescapable genetic factors and the improvement of the disease has been revealed. Leukemia occurs on the background of genetic failure that causes the excessive production of incomplete, partially matured blood cells. Also, leukemia has a hereditary character, allowing the transmission of genetic predispositions to disease from one generation to another. Although many factors are known to conduce to the improvement of leukemia, they alone can't be considered leukemia causes.

What Is Leukemia

Despite the fact that statistics indicate a higher incidence of the disease in citizen that are exposed to some environmental factors of risk, leukemia doesn't seem to be caused by neither of them in particular. Among the environmental factors that are thought to be leukemia causes, here are some of the most plausible ones:

- Smoking - smoking is thought to growth the chances of being affected by leukemia. Although statistics show that colse to 20 percent of acute leukemia cases are related to smoking, leukemia also occurs to citizen that don't smoke and therefore it can't be considered a leukemia cause on itself;

- prolonged exposure to radiation - Radiation is considered to facilitate the improvement of leukemia. It is believed that exposure to X-rays can be a leukemia cause;

- prolonged exposure to benzene - statistics communicate that this is a major factor of risk in some forms of leukemia, such as myelogenous leukemia;

- Chemotherapy and cancer medicine - former cancer treatments and chemotherapy are known to facilitate the occurrence and improvement of leukemia and can be considered plausible leukemia causes. Within a few years from the completion of chemotherapy and other treatments for inescapable forms of cancer, most citizen can fabricate leukemia.

Among the genetic factors that are considered to be leukemia causes, the following ones are thought to be the most important:

- chromosome abnormalities - some rare genetic syndromes are known to conduce to leukemia causes;

- Immune ideas genetic problems - a weak immune ideas is very likely to facilitate the occurrence of leukemia and therefore can be considered a leukemia cause;

- Down syndrome - children born with this syndrome have a very high risk of developing acute leukemia.

The list of possible leukemia causes can continue further, but these are the most common factors that are considered to be interrelated with leukemia. While some of them can be prevented, others reside within the genes and in gift can't be corrected. In future, however, thanks to medical advance, we will probably be able to forestall leukemia and other forms of cancer.

possible Leukemia Causes and Risk Factors