![]() High WBC counts are also a common side effect of certain medications used in leukemia treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy. High White Blood Cell CountĪ high white blood cell count may indicate that the body is fighting an infection. A person’s blood cell count usually returns to normal on its own once treatment is over. That’s why low WBCs are common during cancer treatment. Unfortunately, chemotherapy doesn't differentiate between good cells, like neutrophils, and bad cells, like leukemia cells. ![]() Chemotherapy is very effective at killing fast-growing cells. It can also indicate a person is not getting proper nutrition, including specific vitamins or iron.īoth leukemia and some therapies to treat it (such as chemotherapy) can tax the immune system and cause low WBCs. Low White Blood Cell CountĪ low WBC count, also called leukopenia, could indicate that a person undergoing leukemia treatment has an infection, resulting from the low count. A low WBC or a high WBC count can provide important information for a doctor, helping them to interpret symptoms and achieve good treatment outcomes. It’s important for doctors to track WBC counts in a person living with leukemia or undergoing treatment for leukemia. Leukemia and cancer treatments often have an impact on blood counts in general, including red blood cells and hemoglobin, and on platelets. The overproduction of these dysfunctional WBCs crowds out other cells in the bone marrow and interferes with how bone marrow produces red blood cells and platelets. They’re not able to fight infection from viruses and bacteria, like their normal counterparts, leaving a person’s immune system vulnerable to attack. These leukemia cells don’t function properly. When a person has leukemia, their body produces an excessive amount of abnormal white blood cells. How Does Leukemia Affect White Blood Cells? In a normal blood count, the WBC differential comprises numbers within the following ranges:īasophils and eosinophils comprise the rest of the blood. The differential is the ratio of the various WBC types. 5,000 to 10,000 WBCs per microliter of blood for childrenĭifferent types of WBCs are counted by a measure called white blood cell differential.4,500 to 11,000 WBCs per microliter of blood for women.5,000 to 10,000 WBCs per microliter of blood for men.According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, normal blood cell count falls within the following ranges: The normal range of white blood cells found in every microliter of blood differs for adults and children. WBCs are the soldiers of the body’s immune system. In general, normal WBCs fight off bodily infection from invading bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens (infection-causing organisms). There are five primary types of white blood cells:Įach type plays a specific role, responding to different types of foreign bodies in specific ways. Under normal conditions, a person’s bone marrow produces plenty of stem cells that develop into the various WBCs. White blood cells are manufactured by the bone marrow, the spongy tissue found in the center of some of the larger bones in your body.
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