Leukemia and the Circulatory System
To first understand how Leukemia affects the Circulatory system, we need to understand what the circulatory system is.
Circulatory System: The circulatory system consists of the heart, blood and the blood vessels.
Their main function is to transports gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, transports nutrients such as glucose, helps maintain the temperature of the human body and lastly has white cells that defend the body from infections. (2)
In general Leukemia can cause the abnormal production of white blood cells this can increase the thickness of the blood which can eventually lead to the clogging of the blood vessels. Not only that, if there are to many cancer cells in the marrow it can clog up the marrow which can cause no blood to be released into the blood vessels. This can cause problems such as anemia.
However, due to the various types of Leukemia, depending on the type there are different affects on the human body. It can range from doing nothing to the Circulatory system to cause severely depleted blood counts, or even hyperviscosity syndrome. These are both caused when there is an abnormal count for white blood cells in your circulatory system. Hyperviscosity can result in strokes. (1)
Source Used:
(1)http://www.mcrh.org/leukemia/42998.htm
(2)http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/heart.html
To first understand how Leukemia affects the Circulatory system, we need to understand what the circulatory system is.
Circulatory System: The circulatory system consists of the heart, blood and the blood vessels.
Their main function is to transports gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, transports nutrients such as glucose, helps maintain the temperature of the human body and lastly has white cells that defend the body from infections. (2)
In general Leukemia can cause the abnormal production of white blood cells this can increase the thickness of the blood which can eventually lead to the clogging of the blood vessels. Not only that, if there are to many cancer cells in the marrow it can clog up the marrow which can cause no blood to be released into the blood vessels. This can cause problems such as anemia.
However, due to the various types of Leukemia, depending on the type there are different affects on the human body. It can range from doing nothing to the Circulatory system to cause severely depleted blood counts, or even hyperviscosity syndrome. These are both caused when there is an abnormal count for white blood cells in your circulatory system. Hyperviscosity can result in strokes. (1)
Source Used:
(1)http://www.mcrh.org/leukemia/42998.htm
(2)http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/heart.html