How does acute myeloid leukemia affect red blood cells?
Acute myeloid leukemia affects red blood cells in several ways. The leukemia cells build up in your bone marrow and crowd out the healthy cells that would normally develop into red blood cells. This makes it harder for your body to produce enough normal red blood Show Full Answer
How does acute myeloid leukemia affect red blood cells?
Acute myeloid leukemia affects red blood cells in several ways. The leukemia cells build up in your bone marrow and crowd out the healthy cells that would normally develop into red blood cells. This makes it harder for your body to produce enough normal red blood cells.
When you don't have enough red blood cells, you develop anemia. This happens because red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout your body to all your organs and tissues.
Symptoms of low red blood cell counts include:
- Fatigue and weakness
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Headaches
- Shortness of breath or difficulty taking a deep breath
- Pale or yellowish skin
- Chest pain
- Feeling cold, especially in your hands and feet
- Uneven or fast heartbeat (heart palpitations)
AML treatments like chemotherapy can also kill both cancerous and healthy blood cells, which may further lower your red blood cell levels during treatment. Your red blood cell count may be especially low when you have a lot of cancer cells in your body, such as before treatment begins.
Your doctor can monitor your red blood cell levels with blood tests and may provide red blood cell transfusions if your levels drop too low.
February 19
Continue with Facebook
Continue with Email
Join
Your Privacy Choices
