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This is an uncommon blood disorder in which the bone marrow doesn’t make sufficient new blood cells. Typically, the bone marrow is largely responsible for the production of the bulk of blood cells, especially when at childhood and adult stage of life. In aplastic anemia, the amount of the different types of blood cells are severely low. This condition is called pancytopenia, and it involves the low amount of red blood cells, anemia, leukopenia, the low amount of white blood cells, and thrombocytopenia, the low amount of platelets. The term aplastic means the inability of the bone marrow to produce and develop mature blood cells. This disease mostly occurs in old age people, teens and young adults, especially those in their twenties. This condition is severe and has to be well managed if the patient is to survive. Some of the signs and symptoms of this disease include weakness, shortness of breath, skin pallor, recurrent infections, easy bruising and prolonged bleeding, headache and so on. The disease develops when there is damage to the bone marrow. This could be due to exposure to the dangerous amount of radiations, exposure to chemical toxins, use of some medications and so on. Some of the ways of preventing are by avoiding prolonged exposure to radiations, and not using some specific drugs. Aplastic anemia is diagnosed by carrying out blood tests, and bone marrow biopsy. Physicians treat the disease by carrying out blood transfusions, and medications. Research is also ongoing, on how to utilize shock waves in improving some of the symptoms of the disease.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Aplastic Anemia?
As earlier mentioned, aplastic anemia is a condition in which the bone marrow stops producing, or produces an insufficient amount of blood cells. Below are some of the signs and symptoms of aplastic anemia;
- Weakness: This is a condition in which the affected person feels weak and tired after carrying out an easy task. This can be attributed to the low amount of red blood cells. The low number of red blood cells leads to anemia.
- Shortness of breath: Persons affected with aplastic anemia find it difficult to breathe, especially when they perform some form of physical activity.
- Skin pallor: The skin of aplastic anemia patients also becomes pale. This is largely due to the anemic state of the patient. The low number of red blood cells leads to anemia.
- Infections: This is one of the most common symptoms of aplastic anemia. The low amount of white blood cells exposes the patient to infections. Ideally, the white blood cells are responsible for fighting off infections, and also protecting the body against foreign substances that are perceived as dangerous to the body. The lack of these cells or insufficient amount would lead to recurrent infections.
- Easy bruising: In aplastic anemia, there is also the low amount of thrombocytes, also known as platelets. These are cells that are responsible for the clotting system of the body. They protect us from bleeding continuously when we get injured. The lack or insufficient production of these cells in persons affected with this disease makes them bruise and bleed easily. In addition, patients tend to bleed for a long time. This could lead to death if they have a severe injury.
- Skin rash: Aplastic anemia patients also tend to have rashes on their skin.
- Dizziness: The low amount of red blood cells, which translates to low blood oxygen causes patients to feel dizzy.
What Are the Causes of Aplastic Anemia?
Aplastic anemia occurs when there is damage to the bone marrow. Damages to the bone marrow impair the production of blood cells. This could either lead to the reduction or a stop in the production of the cells. Typically, healthy bone marrow is responsible for the production of the bulk of blood cells especially in childhood till adulthood. The hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow produce the red blood cell, white blood cells, and the platelets. Any form of impairment in the bone marrow would affect the production of these cells. There are various causes of aplastic anemia. Below are some of the common ones;
- Radiation: The prolonged, and frequent exposure to radiations could lead to the development of aplastic anemia. This applies to children who get exposed to a lot of radiations. This could be an X-ray, MRI machine and so on. In addition, cancer patients also get exposed to a lot of radiations.
- Chemotherapy treatments: Cancer patients that undergo chemotherapy have a high risk of developing aplastic anemia. This is because some the cancer medications are capable of damaging the stem cells in the bone marrow.
- Exposure to toxic chemicals: Exposure to toxic chemicals can lead to the development of aplastic anemia. Some of these chemicals include pesticide, herbicide, benzene and so on. This can be avoided by reducing your exposure to these chemicals.
- Medications: There are some drugs that are capable of causing this disease. Examples of this kind of drugs are the ones used in the treatment of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
- Idiopathic cause: This is a condition in which doctors can’t identify why a patient has the disease.
How Is Aplastic Anemia Diagnosed?
Physicians diagnose this disease based on the signs and symptoms presented by the patient. Below are some of the tests carried out to confirm the diagnosis;
- Blood tests: There are ranges for the normal amount of blood cells. An individual affected with aplastic anemia would have a low amount of all the blood cells.
- Biopsy: Bone marrow biopsy is also done to confirm the diagnosis. Physicians do this by taking a sample of the bone marrow, and examining the sample under a microscope. This is done to exclude other probably diseases, and to also check the number of blood cells in the slide.
Treatment of Aplastic Anemia
The treatment of this disease depends largely on the severity of the condition. For the mildly severe aplastic anemia, the physician might just need to observe, while for serious cases, blood transfusion and medications like immunosuppressant might need to be administered.
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References
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