Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a fast-growing cancer that affects the blood cells in your body. It can make you very sick, but there are treatments that can help. These treatments can help to achieve remission of cancer, which means it’s not active anymore.
In 2019, the National Cancer Institute stated that around 21,450 new cases of AML would be diagnosed in the United States. They also estimated that about 10,920 people would die from this disease.
AML can happen to anyone, but it’s not unusual in people under 45 years old. Most people who get AML are around 68 years old when they’re diagnosed.
AML
AML is a type of cancer that happens when specific cells in your body start growing out of control. Normally, cells in your body grow and divide in an orderly way, but with AML, this process goes haywire.
In AML, the body starts making too many undeveloped white blood cells called blasts. These blasts don’t work properly and they force out the healthy cells. This can cause a bunch of problems in your body.
Unlike some other types of leukemia that develop slowly, AML comes on quickly. This means that the unhealthy blasts multiply rapidly, taking over the space that should be occupied by healthy cells.
In a healthy individual, blasts only make up a small percentage of the bone marrow, which is where blood cells are made. Also, there shouldn’t take place any blasts. But in someone with AML, blasts can make up a big part of the bone marrow or even show up in the blood.
When someone has AML, they might start feeling sick slowly over time. As the blasts take over more place in the blood, symptoms can get worse.
Symptoms
The symptoms of AML can make you feel a bit like you have the flu. But there are also other signs that happen because of changes in your blood.
Feeling tired all the time, having trouble catching your breath, and extreme sweating are some of the signs you might notice if you have AML. You might also find that your skin looks paler than usual and get injuries easily. Running a fever or having swollen glands are other symptoms to watch out for.
Additionally, you might get sick more often than usual, and your joints and bones might hurt. Bleeding from your gums or nose without any clear reason, as well as small red spots on your skin from bleeding, are other warning signs.
You might also lose your appetite and start losing weight without trying. Pain in your belly could happen because your liver or spleen is swollen. Confusion and difficulty speaking clearly can also be symptoms of AML.
If AML extends to other parts of your body, you might have even more symptoms. For example, if it gets into your brain and spinal cord, you might get headaches, blurry vision, fatigue, vomiting, and seizures.
Since AML grows quickly, it’s important to see a doctor if you notice any strange symptoms. The sooner you start treatment, the better your chances of beating it.
Causes and Risk Factors
Doctors are still trying to figure out why some bone marrow cells turn into leukemia cells. However, they believe that being around certain harmful substances can increase the chances of getting AML.
Radiation
Getting contact with the radiation is one way someone might develop AML. If there’s a nuclear accident and people are exposed to radiation, their risk of getting AML goes up. Sometimes, people who took radiation treatment for cancer can later attacks leukemia as a second kind of cancer.
Even things like spending a lot of time flying planes can increase the risk because being up high in the sky exposes you to more radiation from the sun.
Benzene
Another thing that can up the chain is being around benzene, a chemical found in things like crude oil, gasoline, glues, cleaning products, and cigarette smoke. People who work with plastics, medicines, pesticides, and other stuff might be around benzene more, too.
To lower your risk, it’s a good idea to avoid breathing in fumes from gasoline and other chemicals with benzene and to keep them off your skin. If you spill something with benzene, clean it up carefully.
Smoking
Individuals who smoke cigarettes seem to be more likely to get AML. That might be because cigarette smoke has benzene in it, which is a chemical that can increase the risk of cancer.
Smoking isn’t good for your health in a lot of ways. It can cause all sorts of problems in your body.
Also, some health conditions or genetic elements can make someone more likely to develop AML. These include things like Fanconi anemia, Down syndrome, and specific blood diseases like myelodysplasia.
Diagnosis
If someone observes signs that could be AML, they must go to the healthcare provider. The healthcare provider will ask about their symptoms, their medical history, and their family’s medical history. They will also do a physical exam.
If the doctor thinks it might be leukemia, they’ll suggest some tests.
Bone marrow examination
One test involves taking a sample of bone marrow. This can be done in two ways: either by using a needle to get some bone marrow fluid (aspiration), or by using a bigger needle to take out a small part of bone marrow (biopsy).
If the symptoms suggest that AML might have spread to the brain, the healthcare provider might do a lumbar puncture. This means they’ll take some fluid from around the spine for examination.
Blood tests
Blood tests are also important. They can tell the healthcare provider what kind of leukemia it is, how many blast cells there are, and which organs are affected.
The healthcare provider will identify AML if the tests show that either a little or a larger percentage of the bone marrow or blood has blast cells, or if there are genetic characteristics that only happen in individuals with AML.
Treatment
Treatment for AML includes different options:
- Chemotherapy: This is an important treatment. It uses strong drugs to destroy cancer cells all over the body. But it can also cause some serious side effects.
- Targeted Therapy: This involves using drugs that target certain things in the body, like certain proteins that help cancer grow. Halting these proteins can slow down or stop the cancer. Sometimes, targeted therapy is used in the place of chemotherapy, or together with it.
- Radiation Therapy: This might help some individuals with AML. It can reduce pain in the bones, especially if chemotherapy doesn’t work well.
- Stem Cell Therapy (Bone Marrow Transplant): This assists the patient’s recovery after strong chemotherapy. Doctors might suggest this to help a person handle higher doses of chemotherapy.
The goal of treatment is to bring the blast count in the bone marrow below 5%. When this happens, it means the cancer is in remission. In about two-thirds of people who get chemotherapy for AML, it goes into remission. This type of chemotherapy, called “induction chemotherapy,” aims to bring about remission.
Whether treatment will result in remission depends on various factors., like the kind of AML and how healthy the person is.
Up to 50% of individuals with AML can see long-term, and sometimes lifelong remission after treatment.
Prevention
Doctors aren’t sure why AML happens, so there’s no surefire way to stop it from occurring.
But there are things you can do to lower your risk:
- Try to limit how much you’re around radiation if you can.
- Be careful when you’re using things that have benzene in them, like some cleaning products and cigarette smoke.
- Stay away from smoking.
Summary
AML, or acute myeloid leukemia, is a fast-growing type of blood cancer. Its symptoms include fatigue, bruising, and fever. Treatment options include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and stem cell transplantation. While some factors like smoking and exposure to radiation can increase the risk, there’s no sure way to prevent AML.
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