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Sepsis refers to a bacterial infection in the bloodstream or body tissues. This is a very broad term covering the presence of many types of microscopic diseasecausing organisms.Sepsis is also called bacteremia.
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Sepsis is a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria.Sepsis is caused by a bacterial infection that can begin anywhere in the body. Common places where an infection might start include:.The bowel(usually seen with periton...
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Sepsis occurs when bacteria infect your bloodstream. Sepsis can be deadly. Blood pressure may drop and the lungs and kidneys may start to fail. Emergency care for sepsis is crucial.
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Description Infection is characterized by an inflammatory response to the presence of microorganisms in the body. This response may include fever, chills, redness, swelling, pus formation and other responses.
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Detailed information on sepsis, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention
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A set of related cancers that form in the bone marrow and other blood-producing organs.Leukemia is named after the leukocytes, white blood cells which mutate before maturity and become cancerous. These cells reproduce rapidly, suppressing producti...
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Detailed information on leukemia, including causes, stages, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
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Leukemia is a cancer that starts in the organs that make blood, namely the bone marrow and the lymph system. Depending on specific characteristics, leukemia can be divided into two broad types: acute and chronic.
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Leukemia is a group of bone marrow diseases involving an uncontrolled increase in white blood cells(leukocytes).For information about a specific type of leukemia, see the following:.Acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL) Acute myelogenous leukemia(AML) C...
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Leukemia is different from other types of cancer. Most cancers begin as a tumor and spread to other parts of the body. How large the tumor is and how far the cancer spreads determines the stage of the cancer. But leukemia doesn't begin as a tumor. It is in your blood, which means it is already moving throughout your body.
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Cancer occurs when cells in the body begin changing in ways that aren't normal. Cancer that starts in blood cells is called leukemia.
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There is no sure way to prevent leukemia. In fact, most people with leukemia have no known risk factors. People can, however, make certain lifestyle choices that might lower their risk of developing leukemia.
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Certain factors can make one person more likely to get leukemia than another person. These are called risk factors. Although such risk factors do exist, a person who has one or more risk factors will not necessarily get leukemia. In fact, a person can have all the risk factors and still not get leukemia, or he or she can have no known risk factors and still get the disease.
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You have just been told, "You have leukemia.” With these 3 words, you may feel that your world has stopped. It's scary to hear. However, knowledge is powerful. It can help make a difference in how you handle your experience with leukemia.
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Normal white blood cells help the body fight infections. Because leukemia cells are abnormal, they do not function as normal cells do. People with leukemia often find out about their disease because they may have fevers and infections.
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Detailed overview of leukemia, including types, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment
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The cells that were removed for your biopsy are looked at more closely during special tests. These tests help tell what kind of leukemia you have. The type you have affects your choices for treatment.
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You will likely have physical concerns since your leukemia may cause symptoms and you may have side effects from your treatment. In this section, you'll learn more about how to respond to some of the most common ones. You will not likely have all of these side effects or symptoms. They are listed alphabetically to help you find information when you need it.
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Detailed information on leukemia in childhood, including symptoms, staging, diagnosis, and treatment
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Targeted therapy is a new type of treatment for some types of leukemia. It's designed to "see” a certain change in a cancer cell. This is a change that makes the cancer grow, divide, repair, or "talk” with other cells. These new drugs attack only cancer cells. They destroy or slow the growth of cancer cells. But they avoid normal, healthy cells. That means this treatment tends to cause fewer and less severe side effects than other kinds of treatment. These 3 main types of targeted therapy can treat leukemia.
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This treatment uses strong X-rays to kill leukemia cells. For leukemia, this treatment is most often used after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. It may also be used to help control pain. In the rare cases that leukemia causes a tumor, radiation may be used to shrink it. A radiation oncologist sets your treatment plan. The plan details what kind of radiation you'll have and how long the treatment will last. This doctor can also tell you how you may feel during and after the treatment.
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If your doctor thinks you might have leukemia, you will have a special kind of biopsy. For it, your doctor needs a small sample of bone marrow and bone. The doctor takes these from the inside of your pelvic bone. The procedure is called a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy. In some cases, the doctor takes an aspiration from the breastbone instead. A pathologist looks at the sample under a microscope. It may take a few days for the results to come back. Then your doctor knows if you have leukemia.
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No standard screening process exists for detecting early stage leukemia. Doctors often detect chronic leukemia during routine blood count checks or screening tests, such as those conducted when a person seeks employment, joins the military, is pregnant, or is about to undergo an operation.
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Detailed information on leukemia in childhood, including symptoms, staging, diagnosis, and treatment
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Leukemia can be treated. Your treatment depends on all these things. The type of leukemia you have
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To find out whether you have leukemia, your doctor does a physical examination and other tests. Sometimes a doctor finds leukemia during a routine exam. This can happen when a person doesn't know about a problem because he or she doesn't have symptoms.
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It's normal to worry about what leukemia will mean for you and your family. You may wonder, "What are my chances of being cured?” and "How long will I live?” The answers to these questions are what you may hear healthcare experts call your prognosis. This is the likely outcome, or course, of your leukemia. Your doctor considers how likely these outcomes are for you when making your prognosis.
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Listed below are some frequently asked questions about leukemia. Q: What is leukemia?
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The hallmark of leukemia is often an increase in the number of white blood cells. It's ironic that mass production of white blood cells--your body's infection fighters--actually causes you harm. The problem is that the white blood cells made when you have leukemia may not function normally. When your body makes too many leukemic white blood cells, it doesn't make enough normal ones to fight infection. This decrease in the strength of your immune system is called immunosuppression. A weaker immune system means you are at a greater risk of getting both common infections you encounter in everyday life as well as uncommon ones.
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Treating your leukemia to get the best results is important. But your quality of life also matters. Let your doctor or nurse know if you are experiencing any side effects or discomfort. Make sure to tell your doctor or nurse how these problems affect your day-to-day life. Your healthcare team is there to help you manage your symptoms as well as to treat your leukemia.
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When you are being treated for leukemia, you will likely have side effects from that treatment and also, perhaps, symptoms of the disease itself. For instance, the leukemia itself can cause symptoms such as fevers, weight loss, or bleeding. The treatments to destroy leukemia cells can harm healthy cells at the same time, and that means treatment can cause side effects.
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If you are having targeted therapy, your healthcare team will explain its side effects and help you manage them.
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How you get targeted therapy depends on the kind you get. You get monoclonal therapy by intravenous (IV) needle or under the skin 3 times a week. You won't need to stay in a hospital overnight. How long each treatment lasts depends upon the dose you get. It also depends on whether you have any reactions to the treatment. If you get an IV, it may take about 2 hours. If you get an injection under the skin, it may take a few minutes.
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Once your radiation oncologist has mapped out your treatment plan, a radiation therapist treats you. There are a few ways to do that.
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Surgery can do little to treat leukemia. For chronic leukemia, though, it is helpful in some cases. Your doctor may remove your spleen if it is swollen and pressing against other organs. Your spleen is an organ near your stomach. It helps produce white blood cells and destroy red blood cells. Another reason you may have your spleen removed is to raise levels of certain blood cells. That's because a swollen spleen can start removing too many of them from your blood.
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A clinical trial is when a new treatment is tested. It tests treatments that may work better or cause fewer problems than current treatments. A clinical trial may give you a chance to get a new treatment not yet available to the public.
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Dealing with these feelings is often easier as you learn more about your disease and get support. Doctors, nurses, and other members of your healthcare team can answer questions about your concerns. Talking with friends and relatives or getting in touch with others who have had leukemia or cancer can be helpful. Meeting with a social worker, counselor, or member of the clergy may also help. Many people with leukemia attend support groups. There they can share what they have learned about leukemia and its treatments.
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Many side effects of treatment are not serious. They end once the treatment ends. But others may develop over time or be a sign of more serious damage from treatment. For instance, chemotherapy can damage organs, such as kidneys or lungs. Also, when leukemia cells break down during treatment, they release their contents into the bloodstream. This can cause what is called tumor lysis syndrome. It can also affect certain organs. If you have a stem cell transplant, the immune system cells from a donor attack the leukemia cells. They can also attack your normal cells, causing a variety of side effects. And, in rare cases, you may develop another type of cancer as a side effect of treatment.
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Side effects of chemotherapy depend upon the type and amount of drugs you take. They vary from person to person. Here's a list of side effects you may have with this treatment. Talk with your doctor or nurse about which might be most likely to happen to you.
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Once you know you have leukemia, your doctor will likely do more tests. Most people need more than one.
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Radiation affects normal cells as well as cancer cells. It may cause side effects. They depend on how much radiation you get and where you get it. Here's a list of common side effects people with leukemia may have after radiation. Ask your doctor or nurse which ones you are most likely to have.
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Some people use statistics to try to figure out their chances of getting cancer or of being cured. Statistics show what happens with large groups of people. Because no two people are alike, statistics cannot be used to know or predict what will happen to a particular person.
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You may have heard a lot about alternative or complementary care. These are a group of practices and products that are not yet thought of as a part of standard medicine.
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You and your doctor will talk all about stem cell transplants and their side effects before you have it done. After this treatment, you will have a weakened immune system. That makes you are at greater risk for infection and other serious side effects. You must stay in the hospital for several weeks. You may also need to be in isolation after being in the hospital until your white blood cell counts start returning to normal. During this time, your stem cells are making new white blood cells. Here are some common side effects you can expect. Many of these are from chemotherapy or radiation treatments and will go away after treatment ends.
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When many people think of cancer care, they may think of traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. These treatments are used to get rid of cancer cells in the body. But there is another form of care that many people with cancer also receive called supportive care. Supportive care does not fight the cancer, but it can improve the overall health or quality of life for a person with cancer. It can include dealing with side effects of cancer and its treatments, such as fatigue and pain, learning about the condition and treatment, and getting nutritional and psychological support. For leukemia patients, supportive care is an important part of helping the patient get through treatment.
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Detailed information on the most common surgical procedures, including appendectomy, breast biopsy, carotid endarterectomy, cataract surgery, cesarean section, cholecystectomy, coronary artery bypass surgery, debridement of wound, dilation and curettage,
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Detailed information on the most common tests performed before surgery Many surgeons order routine laboratory tests before admission to the hospital, or even before certain outpatient procedures, to identify potential problems that might complicate surgery if not detected and treated early. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some of the most common tests performed before surgery (and possible reasons/symptoms why they are performed) are included in the following list:
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Detailed information on preparing for surgery and questions to ask before surgery
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Detailed information on the purpose of having surgery Surgery, whether elective or required, is done for a multitude of reasons. A patient may have surgery to:
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Detailed information on recovering from surgery and intensive care Once surgery has been completed, you are brought to the recovery room, which also may be called the post-anesthesia care unit. In the recovery room, clinical staff will closely monitor you as you recover from anesthesia. The length of time spent in recovery depends on the type of surgery performed and the individual patient. While a patient is in recovery, the clinical staff may do the following:
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Detailed information on the different methods of surgery, including open surgery, minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopy, endoscopy, arthroscopy, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, gastroscopy, hysteroscopy, laryngoscopy, and sigmoidoscopy
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Thousands of Americans face surgery each year, often with fear and doubts about whether the right step is being taken. And not knowing what's involved may mean putting yourself through as much grief as the procedure intends to do away with. Whether you are undergoing surgery for the first time or the tenth, understanding why you need it, the risks involved, available alternative treatments, and the aftereffects will help you make the right decisions and deal effectively with the outcome.
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Detailed information on preparation for surgery, including preoperative checklists, and information on informed consent forms, advance directives, and insurance
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Detailed information on preparing for surgery Preparations for surgery depend on your diagnosis. Your physician will discuss with you how to prepare for your surgery. However, if you will undergo general anesthesia, you may be asked to do the following:
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Detailed information on surgery, including surgery statistics, surgery questions, preoperative management, intraoperative management, and postoperative management
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Detailed information on surgery, including surgery statistics, surgery questions, preoperative management, intraoperative management, and postoperative management
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Detailed information on preparing for a plastic surgery procedure As with any type of surgery, there are certain preparations that need to take place. Determining what preparations are necessary will depend on what type of surgery that will be performed and the type of anesthesia that will be administered. The following are considerations for you to discuss with your physician/surgeon prior to your procedure:
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Detailed information on other techniques of surgery, including laser surgery and electrosurgery
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Detailed information on the day of surgery and what to expect in the operating room
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List of online resources to find additional information on surgery This Web was compiled from a variety of sources including the online resources listed below, but is not intended to substitute or replace the professional medical advice you receive from your physician. The content provided here is for informational purposes only, and was not designed to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease. Please consult your physician with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.
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Detailed information on surgery, the different types of surgery, the surgical setting, and the purpose of surgery
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Detailed information on the surgical team, including the surgeon, anesthesiologist, certified registered nurse anesthetist, and operating room nurse
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Statistics relating to surgery According to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 43.9 million inpatient surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2003, followed closely by outpatient surgeries.
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Detailed information on the surgical setting and the options that may be available to the patient, including outpatient surgery, inpatient surgery, ambulatory surgery, and specialty surgery centers
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Detailed information on the different types of surgery, including surgical diagnosis, optional surgery, elective surgery, required surgery, urgent surgery, or emergency surgery
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Detailed information on discharge planning after surgery Once you meet the discharge criteria specified for your type of surgery, you will be released to go home or be transferred to a room. Hospitals usually require that the patient is transported home by a friend or family member, as coordination and reflexes may be impaired for 24 hours following anesthesia. Your discharge plan may include instructions on how to take care of the wound dressings, what medications to take, what exercises to do, and other home care instructions.
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What kinds of surgery can I consider? Which operation do you recommend for me? Will I need radiation after surgery?
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A hemolytic transfusion reaction is a serious problem that occurs after a patient receives a transfusion of blood. The red blood cells that were given to the patient are destroyed by the patient''s own immune system.Blood is classified into differe...
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