Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL)

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) adalah sejenis kanser darah dan sum-sum tulang  ( tisu lembut di dalam tulang di mana sel-sel darah dihasilkan).

Perkataan "akut" bermaksud,  penyakit  ini merebak dengan cepat dan menghasilkan lebih sel-sel darah yang tidak matang berbading  yang matang. "Lymphocytic" dalam Acute lymphocytic leukemia merujuk kepada sel-sel darah putih yang dikenali sebagai limfosit.  Lymphocytic leukemia akut juga dikenali sebagai “lymphoblastic leukemia akut”.

Lymphocytic leukemia akut adalah jenis kanser yang paling biasa pada kanak-kanak, dan mempunyai  peluang yang baik untuk sembuh dengan secara rawatan. Lymphocytic leukemia akut juga boleh berlaku pada orang dewasa, walaubagaimanapun peluang untuk sembuh adalah lebih rendah.

Symptom

Tanda-tanda dan  lymphocytic leukemia akut termasuk:

• ·         Pendarahan pada gusi
• ·         sakit tulang
• ·         demam
• ·         jangkitan yang kerap
• ·         Hidung kerap berdarah atau teruk berdarah
• ·         Benjolan yang disebabkan oleh nod limfa yang bengkak di sekitar leher, ketiak, atau pangkal paha atau abdomen
• ·         kulit pucat
• ·         Sesak nafas
• ·         Selalu lemah, keletihan atau kurang bertenaga

SEL DARAH PUTIH

Peningkatan Bilangan Sel Darah Putih

Punca-punca :

·         Peningkatan penghasilan sel-sel darah putih untuk melawan jangkitan

·         Reaksi terhadap ubatan yang diambil bagi meningkatkan penghasilan  sel darah putih

·         Penyakit  sum-sum tulang, menyebabkan penghasilan sel darah putih yang luar biasa banyaknya

·         Gangguan sistem imun yang meningkatkan penghasilan  sel darah putih

Sebab spesifk penghasilan sel darah putih yang tinggi termasuk:

·         Acute lymphocytic leukemia

·         Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)

·         Tindakbalas terhadap alahan yang teruk

·         Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

·         Chronic myelogenous leukemia

·         Kesan dadah seperti corticosteroids dan epinephrine

·         Myelofibrosis

·         Jangkitan bakteria yang tertentu

·         Jangkitan virus tertentu

·         Polycythemia vera

·         Rheumatoid arthritis

·         Merokok

·         Tekanan, seperti tekanan emosi  atau fizikal yang teruk

·         Tuberculosis

·         Batuk kokol

Punca-punca yang dinyatakan di atas adalah berkaitan dengan symptom pada pesakit. Oleh itu maklumat yang diberikan oleh doktor dapat membantu Juruteknologi Makmal membuat diagnosis dengan lebih tepat lagi.

*Artikel akan datang ==> Kenali Sel Leukemia

Why am I having a high ESR?

Q. I am a 36 years old male weighing 64 kg. My blood report showed ESR: 110, haemoglobin (Hb): 9.90, WBC: 9.90 and RBC: 3.20. I suffered from urinary tract infection (UTI) last month (pus cell were 70-80/ hpf) and took highend antibiotics. What is the reason behind high ESR? I have got low-grade fever at night and fatigue also.

A.  High ESR is a marker of infection or inflammation in the body. It should be normally below 20 mm in 1st hour. In your case, the ESR could have gone up due to urine infection but should have come down substantially after intake of appropriate antibiotics as per urine culture. High esr could mean an ongoing UTI or any other infection which may be causing this to be persistently high. Meet a physician and get evaluated including cause of your anemia and also low grade fever. Get a fresh urine culture, chest x-ray-pa, usg abdomen, mantoux test etc as per the advice of your physician.

Read more at: http://doctor.ndtv.com/faq/ndtv/fid/0061162/Why_am_I_having_a_high_ESR.html?cp

Why do the INR and PTT measure different pathways?

How come the PT measures the extrinsic pathway and the PTT measures the intrinsic pathway?
 
Why the INR only measured the extrinsic pathway and the PTT measured only the intrinsic pathway. As what we know, the substance added to the test tube in each test, and the pathway the test measured. Later on, though, we didn’t have a clue as to why the tests measured the pathways they did.

Before we get into the reasoning behind the tests, a quick correction is in order. We don’t add thromboplastin in both the INR and PTT. In the INR, you add thromboplastin, and in the PTT you add phospholipids (not thromboplastin). It turns out thromboplastin is a substance that contains both phospholipids AND a tissue-factor-like substance. That’s why they call the assay the “partial thromboplastin time” – because you only need to add part of the thromboplastin reagent (the phospholipid part) to get this test to run.
To understand why the PT measures just the extrinsic pathway and the PTT measures just the intrinsic pathway, you need to know what activates these pathways in the body. The extrinsic pathway is activated by tissue factor. The intrinsic pathway can be activated by a bunch of things, the most important of which is thrombin. 


Why the INR measures the extrinsic pathway
To get blood in a test tube to form fibrin along the extrinsic pathway, you need to add some tissue-factor-like substance. Also, since you removed the platelets and calcium before running the test, you need to add those things back into the test tube (the coagulation system needs a phospholipid surface, normally provided by platelets, and calcium to run). Thromboplastin is a substance that contains both phospholipids and a tissue-factor-like substance. Add thromboplastin and some calcium, and the blood in the test tube will form fibrin via the extrinsic pathway.

Why the PTT measures intrinsic pathway
To get blood in a test tube to form fibrin along the intrinsic pathway, you don’t need to add any tissue-factor-like substance (if you do, the extrinsic pathway will be activated!). All you need to do is add back what you took out of the blood (phospholipids and calcium), as well as something like silica or kaolin to activate the intrinsic pathway (normally, thrombin does this job in vivo), and you’ll form fibrin along the intrinsic pathway. This is actually why the intrinsic pathway was named the way it was: everything you need to get the pathway to run is “intrinsic” to the blood. The extrinsic pathway requires something “extrinsic” to the blood (tissue factor) for it to run.

Bottom line
The INR activates the extrinsic pathway because in this test you add thromboplastin (which contains both a tissue-factor-like substance and phospholipids) to the test tube. The PTT activates the intrinsic pathway because in this test you add just phospholipids to the test tube – and without tissue factor around, fibrin is formed along the intrinsic pathway.

PROTOZOA

Protozoa adalah organisma eukariot unisel. Protozoa yang menyebabkan jangkitan kepada manusia biasanya disebarkan oleh serangga atau melalui najis dan kebanyakannya menjangkiti usus dan darah .

Berikut adalah 15 protozoa yang penting dalam bidang kajian makmal perubatan (dan penyakit yang berkaitan).

     Entamoeba histolytica (disentri amebic, bernanah hati

     Balantidium coli (kolitis)

     Giardia lamblia (penyakit cirit-birit malabsorptive)

     Isospora belli (enterocolitis kronik)

     Cryptosporidium sp. (penyakit cirit-birit)

     Trichomonas vaginalis (urethritis, vaginitis)

     Naegleria fowleri (meningoencephalitis)

     Acanthamoeba sp. (meningoencephalitis, ophthalmitis)

     Plasmodium sp. (malaria)

     Babesia sp. (babesiosis)

     Trypanosoma sp. (Penyakit tidur Afrika)

     Trypanosoma cruzi (penyakit Chagas)

     Leishmania donovani (Kala-Azar)

     Leishmania sp. (kulit leishmaniasis)

     Toxoplasma gondii (toksoplasmosis)