Haematological cancers are cancers of the blood and lymphatic system - they are cancers are those that affect the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.
There are 3 main groups of haematology cancer, these include:
- Leukaemia
- Lymphomas
- Myeloma
Every year, more than 500 children aged under 15 are diagnosed with blood cancer. Of these, about 400 have childhood leukaemia and about 100 have lymphoma. The risk of blood cancer goes up as you get older, and just under 40% of people diagnosed with it are aged 75 or over in the UK.
Chronic leukaemia involves more-mature blood cells. These blood cells replicate or accumulate more slowly and can function normally for a period. Some forms of chronic leukaemia initially produce no early symptoms and can go unnoticed or undiagnosed for years.
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Among the signs and symptoms of hematologic cancers and blood disorders are:
- Bleeding or bruising easily
- Frequent infections
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Night sweats
- Unexplained weight loss
- Bone pain (in myeloma)
- Painless swelling of lymph nodes (in lymphoma).
If you experience any of these symptoms, please contact your GP
Treatment options may include any combination of:
- Bone marrow transplantation
- Chemotherapy
- Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, usually called CAR T cell therapy
- Immunotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Targeted therapy
- Bloodless transplantation for populations who cannot receive blood products.
There are psychological and wellbeing services for anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer and would like counselling to support with the impact of cancer.
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