Leukopenia - what is it? The causes of leukopenia in children and adults

Often, many people literally suddenly begin to feel dizzy, the pulse is noticeably quicker, there is quite a noticeable weakness. Such simple, at first glance, symptoms can talk about various diseases, including a terrible diagnosis called leukopenia. What it is?

general information

Under this terrible ailment, experts imply a consistent decrease in the number of leukocytes in the human blood itself. Note that such a diagnosis is found not only in humans. There are cases when leukopenia in cats and dogs was diagnosed. According to medical norms, 1mm of blood of an absolutely healthy adult person is saturated with about 5000-8000 leukocytes. However, with this disease, the number of them decreases to 4000. Physicians are concerned about the fact that today the younger generation is increasingly diagnosed with leukopenia. What it is? What provokes an ailment? This is exactly what we will detail in this article.

Causes of leukopenia

• With congenital forms of the disease, very often the cause of the development of pathology are various kinds of genetic defects.
• Aplastic anemia, myelofibrosis.
• With oncological ailments, blood leukopenia is predominantly formed due to chemo- and radiotherapy.
• Metastases of malignant neoplasm in the bone marrow, various tumor diseases of the blood.
• Some groups of infections (for example, sepsis, parvovirus B19, histoplasmosis, tuberculosis, malaria, Epstein-Barr virus, etc.).
• A variety of metabolic disorders in the body, including a deficiency of vitamin B12, copper, folic acid, a violation of the so-called glycogen deposition type 2b.
• Reception non-chemotherapeutic drugs, which are used in intensive care.
• Often, the disease develops as a result of hypoplasia of any particular area of the bone marrow. In this case, it manifests itself in the form of a decrease in the production of only one type of white blood cell. Note that if the whole bone marrow was affected, then absolutely all types of available white blood cells affect the negative influence.

Clinical picture

First of all, it should be noted that at the initial stage of the development of the disease, clinical symptoms are not apparent. Patients begin to complain of dizziness, permanent weakness, rapid fatigue and headaches. Most often, people do not pay attention to these signs, as they write off them for stress or usual fatigue after a regular workday. However, the disease does not stand still, but progresses. As a rule, at the initial stage it is diagnosed very rarely, only when blood tests are submitted for preventive purposes. With the passage of time, the symptoms change somewhat. According to experts, the features of the most clinical picture in this case depend primarily on what specific leukocytes are missing in the body. For example, with a low content of so-called granulocytes, the body's immune defenses are consistently weakened, which, in turn, is no longer able to withstand various kinds of infections and viruses. As a result, patients experience infectious ailments and simply inflammatory processes, manifested in the form of chills, fever, tonsillitis. So, some people have small sores on the oral mucosa, pneumonia develops. On the other hand, with a shortage of agranulocytes, the spleen is enlarged in the patients , some glands are swollen, and other symptoms are associated with concomitant diseases.

Classification

Currently, specialists distinguish two types of this disease:

1. Absolute variant - characterized by a significant decrease in the content of white blood cells in the blood (much lower than the limit).

2. Redistributive leukopenia. What it is? In this case, the number of leukocytes in the first place decreases because they accumulate in the internal organs (as happens, say, with anaphylactic shock).

Diagnostics

1. For the diagnosis of the disease in the first place, accurate counting of the number of blood neutrophils is necessary. Note that the definitions of the very white blood cells themselves for confirmation of the diagnosis will be extremely inadequate. The thing is that for some diseases the number of the above neutrophils will be sharply reduced, while the number of white blood cells remains within the normal range. In addition, counting and control of both red blood cells and platelets is also necessary. Leukopenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia are often interrelated, which already indicates the presence of tumor diseases in the body. Diagnosis as a result is confirmed by the detection of so-called blast cells directly in the peripheral blood or bone marrow itself.
2. Quite often, experts prescribe an additional study of bone marrow puncture in order to differential diagnosis and determine the cause that triggered the development of this disease.
3. With an unclear diagnosis, as a rule, the blood is examined for a rheumatoid factor, antinuclear bodies, the level of vitamin B12, etc.

What should be the treatment?

As a rule, the patient's struggle with this ailment is very fierce, since he does not disappear after several courses of injections or taking pills. Nevertheless, we note that the treatment implies the use of medicines. Drugs for leukopenia are selected individually. More often than not, specialists prescribe drugs that promote the formation of leukocytes. All of them are conditionally divided into two groups. The first includes drugs that activate all metabolic reactions in the body and positively influence the processes of humoral and Cellular immunity (for example, Pentoxyl, Leucogen, Metiluracil, etc.). In addition, they all significantly accelerate the process of regeneration of the cells themselves. The second group consists of drugs obtained through modern genetic engineering. They are considered analogues of the so-called granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. So, these drugs stimulate the formation of both lymphocytes and granulocytes. Very often they are prescribed to those patients who also have various types of cancer. Among the drugs in this category can be called "Sagragost", "Lenograstim", "Filgrastim", etc.

Non-traditional medicine and leukopenia

What it is? What is this disease that can not be cured by folk remedies? Indeed, today a large number of patients remain on the territory of our country, who do not trust traditional medicine, preferring the recipes of our grandmothers. Of course, officially, medicine does not prohibit using all sorts of herbs and infusions along with proven drugs. However, in this case, it is still necessary to warn your doctor about this decision in advance and consult with him. The thing is that some modern medicines simply can not be effective in parallel with traditional medicine. Nevertheless, it is believed that the most effective for the problem we are considering are the motherwort, horsetail and horseshoe.

Necessity of a diet

According to experts, proper nutrition in the diagnosis of leukopenia is another step towards a speedy recovery. It is recommended to eat foods that have a large number of vitamins, amino acids, including folic and ascorbic. The thing is that these substances most favorably influence the synthesis of hemoglobin, as well as the consistent and proper maturation of the cells themselves. The following products must be included in the diet of a sick person daily: fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, berries. It is better to give up excessive consumption of meat. Of course, alcohol products, fast food and other "unhealthy" foods are strictly prohibited.

Possible consequences

Leukopenia is a cancer. Today, so many think, and are fundamentally wrong. It's not cancer, but it's also a serious illness. If you are diagnosed as such, do not despair. Of course, it will not be able to get rid of it instantly, it will take some time. Specialists also warn that this type of pathology does not pass without a trace for other systems of internal organs. The most, perhaps, unpleasant consequence is the weakening of the body's immune defenses. As a consequence, many infections and viruses will attack you quite often. In addition, with this diagnosis, the probability of acquiring a neoplastic disease and AIDS almost doubles.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that this kind of pathology is really unpleasant, and huge efforts are required to combat it both on the part of the patient himself and on the part of the treating physicians. But the diagnosis is not a verdict. It is very important not to lose heart. There is a disease, but there is a desire to fight. On which of these sides will be a patient - that will win.