MENINGEAL LEUKEMIA

Meningeal Leukemia – General Information

Meningeal Leukemia is the blastic phase of chronic granulocytic leukemia. Leukemia is the cancer of white blood cells in the bone narrow. White blood cells usually fight the infections that appear in the organism. There are two types of white blood cells: neutrophils and lymphocytes and there are four types of cancer:

• Acute myelocytic – known as AML
• Acute lymphcytic – known as ALL
• Chronic myelocytic – known as CML
• Chronic lymphocytic – known as CLL

The two forms of acute Leukemia inhibit the production of the needed blood components such as red blood cells and platelets. AML appears in people of all ages, but especially in adults. It is a form of cancer that replaces the normal cells in the bone marrow with malignant cells. ALL is known to be the most common factor that causes cancer in children and it appears between three and five years of age, but it can also occur in adolescents and very rare in adults. CML usually affects people of all ages and sex, but is more common in people over 40 years of age and is very rare in children less of ten years of age. CLL is the cancer of lymphocytes, the most common type of leukemia and it usually affects people over 60 years of age and rare people under 40 years of age. CLL for unknown reason affects mostly men than women and it develops very slowly and many people do not need treatment for a few months or even years, but there are also patients that need treatment right away.  

Meningeal Leukemia – Symptoms

It is well known that any type of medical condition (this includes Meningeal Leukemia) can trigger a variety of symptoms. Therefore, some of this disorder’s symptoms have not been listed in this guide. This is why we strongly recommend you to contact your doctor whenever you develop any bothersome, unusual or unpleasant symptoms. You physician will be able to tell you if you are suffering from Meningeal Leukemia or from any other medical disorder.

ALL (Meningeal Leukemia) in its early stage is characterized by the inability of the bone marrow to produce enough normal blood cells, and after this patients may experience fever and excessive sweating (that may indicate one or more infections), weakness, fatigue and paleness (that indicate anemia, resulted from too few red blood cells), bruising and bleeding (in the form of nosebleeds or bleeding gums) that result from too few platelets. Leukemia in the brain usually produces: headaches, vomiting, and irritability. CML in its early stage may produce no symptoms, but there are also exceptions, some patients may become fatigued, weak, lose their appetite and weight, develop fever and night sweats, and can notice a sensation of “fullness” which is due to the organomegaly (the spleen and liver are usually enlarged). CML can be diagnosed by a simple blood test. AML has the same symptoms as ALL, although the AML cells may cause inflammation of the layers tissues, names meninges. CLL is characterized by: increased menstrual bleeding, thickened and swollen gums, bone paint, joint pain, enlarged lymph nodes, and shortness of breath, abdominal distension, and bloody urine.

Meningeal Leukemia – Treatment

Before the cure for the ALL was found, most people who have been diagnosed with Meningeal Leukemia usually died in maximum 4 months from the establishment of the diagnosis, but now the majority of people diagnosed with ALL are cured. The cure for ALL is chemotherapy, and the first course of this therapy, usually brings the disease under control. The children between 3 and 7 years of age have the best prognosis and those younger than 2 or elderly people. Chemotherapy is very effective in the case of Meningeal Leukemia and it is applied in phases and the patient usually needs to stay in the hospital during the treatment. Blood transfusions may be needed in order to treat the anemia.

AML is as dangerous as ALL and most people die within a few weeks if not treated, but with treatment therapy about 20% to 40% of the patients live at least 5 years, without relapse. Relapses always appear within the first five years after the initialization of the treatment that is why patients who remain leukemia free after the critical five years are considered cured. The treatment for Meningeal Leukemia is aimed on destroying the leukemia cells using chemotherapy and radiotherapy. AML responds to a few drugs, but these drugs suppress bone marrow activity and this leads to fewer blood cells especially neutrophils. Fewer neutrophils favors infections but these are treated with antibiotics. Another thing that is needed is the transfusion of red blood cells and platelets.

The progression of CLL is slow, and that is why many people do not need treatment for a few weeks and even years, this is until the number of the lymphocytes increases, the lymph nodes increase and the number of the platelets and red blood cells decrease. There are drugs used to eliminate the enlarged lymph nodes and the enlarged spleen or liver, and to relieve the symptoms, but they do not cure the disease. The bad part is that CLL can become immune to drugs. Here are some of the drugs used in ameliorating the symptoms:

• Alkylating drugs – such as chlorambucil (also known as Leukeran) that kill the cancer cells.
• Fludarabine – which is administrated intravenously

CML is another form of Meningeal Leukemia that cannot be cured, but some treatments can slow down its progress. Few people die after a year of the diagnosis, most of the people die after five years or even more after they have been diagnosed with Chronic Myelocytic from an accelerated phase of a blast crisis. Treatment in the chronic phase is considered to be successful if the white blood cells count is reduced to what would be called a moderately high level. Not even the best treatment can destroy all of the Meningeal Leukemia cells. The only chance for cure is high-dose chemotherapy treatment with stem cell transplantation. The transplantation of stem cells (besides the fact that it must come from a donor who has a compatible tissue) is most effective during the early stages of the disease and is considerably ineffective in the last phases or in the blast crisis.