Chapter 24: White Blood Cells

5,000-10,000

Low WBC count.

Low neutrophil count; this patient would be at extremely high risk of infection.

Loss of bone marrow function, not able to make cells.

• Medications: 

  • Chemotherapy intendly lowers WBC count

  • Medications that limit bone marrow function.

• Infection (viral, bacterial, parasites, AIDS)

• Disease:

  • Lupus

• Autoimmune disorders

Lymphoproliferative Disorder.

• Self-containing

• Not life threatening

• Epstein Barr Virus (EBC)

• Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

• Typically lasting 4-6 weeks:

  • Shouldn’t surround themselves with other people.

• Fevers

• Fatigue/Malaise

Increase size of the lymph nodes. 

• Everything is swelling up and filling up with all of these excess WBC

• Concern for splenic rupture

• No contact sports

The spleen gets so large that it becomes relatively fragile and can possibly rupture.

Too many WBC.

• Blood/Liquid.

• Faulty cells grow in marrow:

  • Blasts.

  • Bone Marrow.

• Faulty cells impact the ability to make healthy cells.

• Faulty cells not capable of fighting infection.

Immature WBC that don’t provide defense, but they crowd out the bone marrow and multiple.

Make cells, they have the ability to produce healthy cells.

• Solid Tumors (Lumps/Bumps).

• Enlarged lymph nodes: These are where the cells are housed.

• Tumors formed in the Lymphatic system.

• “B”- Symptoms:

  • Itching.

  • Night sweats.

  • Lumps.

  • Fevers.

  • Weight loss.

• Hodgkin: Has the reed-sternberg cells. 

• Non-hodgkin: Does not have the reed-sternberg cells.

• Blood tests.

• Bone marrow test.

• Chest X-ray.

• Scans (X-Ray, CT, MRI, PET).

• Watchful waiting.

• Chemotherapy.

• Targeted Therapy.

• External radiation.

Happening relatively fast.

• 100,000 WBC count: Too many.

  • These blasts are not helpful, do not provide function.

It happens relatively slow.

• 100,000 WBC count: Too many.

  • These blasts are not helpful, do not provide function.

• Lymphoid blasts: Granulocytes, monocytes.

• Myeloblast: Lymphocytes.

• The cells crowd out bone marrow so they can’t make cells. As a result, these patients will have bleeding because they have low platelet levels.

• Overproduction of cells in the bone marrow will cause pain.

• Short of breath because of overcrowded bone marrow. 

All these cancer cells use up our resources, which causes:

• Unexplained weight loss.

• Night sweats.

• Asymptomatic.

• Stem cell transplant.

• Chemotherapy.

• Prevention of infection. 

• Cells that are capable of only making various types of blood cells.

• These cells are able to make new RBC, WBC, and platelets.

• Disease within the limb.

• Affects the plasma cells, which they usually help make antibodies.

• Have issues with bone marrow function properly. 

• Anemia, high levels of calcium, bone pain and fractures, kidney problems, excessive bleeding, and numbness. 

• It pulls a lot of calcium from the bones into the blood, weak bones and high levels of calcium in the blood. The kidneys get overwhelmed by all of the calcium and causes a chain effect.

• Chemotherapy

• Steroids. 

• Bisphosphonates.

• Targeted Therapy.

• Patients have lived up to 10 years.

Kills cancer cells over the course of four to six weeks.

Reduce the discomfort. 

Medication that slows the damage and reduces overall pain.

Trying to heighten your immune response.