HJNO Sep/Oct 2021

52 SEP / OCT 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS ONCOLOGY DIAL GUE COLUMN ONCOLOGY Doctors work with these patients to deter- mine the best course of treatment based on their specific situation. Unlike many other types of cancer, people with early-stage CLL do not benefit from early, aggressive treat- ment but instead, do better with careful, long- termmonitoring of the disease. SYMPTOMS • Feeling very tired and weak. • Swollen lymph nodes in the neck, under the arm or in the groin (lymph nodes are bean-shaped organs that are part of the body’s infection-fighting system). • Getting sick from infections more easily than normal. • Fevers, drenching sweats at night and los- ing weight without trying to. LEUKEMIA is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy, red tissue that fills the large bones. All blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) are derived from stem cells in bone marrow. CLL is one of a group of diseases that affects a type of white blood cell called a “lymphocyte.” Typically, lymphocytes help the body fight infection; however, in CLL, the body produces abnormal lymphocytes that cannot do this effectively. This leads to problems over time. Small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) is a variant of CLL. If you have patients who have been diagnosed and are treating them for CLL, the information belowmay be help- ful to you. In CLL, high numbers of abnormal lym- phocytes are found in the blood, lymph nodes, spleen and bone marrow. In SLL, these same cells are commonly found in the lymph nodes. The abnormal cells cannot fight infection as normal lymphocytes do but instead build up in lymph nodes and other areas such as the liver and spleen. The accumulation of ineffec- tive lymphocytes can interfere with the pro- duction of other blood cells, such as red blood cells and platelets, and the immune system. Unlike some other types of leukemia, CLL usually progresses slowly. In many cases, it causes few, if any, problems in its early stages. Some people can live with CLL for decades. Some people, however, do not live as long. Many times, it is diagnosed incidentally by blood tests that are performed during a rou- tine physical exam. In other cases, a person is diagnosed after noticing symptoms and seeking medical care. CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA 2021 Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a chronic (long-term, slowly developing) leukemia.