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Video

What are the signs and symptoms of hairy cell leukemia?

Posted by
HealthTree Logo HealthTree
• July 29, 2024

On this video

Healthtree contact Seema Bhat, MD

Seema Bhat, MD

Transcript

00:00:09:16 - 00:00:12:05
What are the signs and symptoms of hairy cell leukemia?

00:00:12:08 - 00:00:16:22
So the signs and symptoms of hairy cell leukemia patients can have.

00:00:17:01 - 00:00:22:14
As I told you, this disease affects the counts, the blood cell counts.

00:00:22:20 - 00:00:26:00
So the blood cells are broadly of three different types.

00:00:26:03 - 00:00:30:04
The white cells which are infection fighting cells,

00:00:30:06 - 00:00:34:23
the red cells which we measure by hemoglobin. And platelets,

00:00:35:01 - 00:00:37:05
these are cells which prevent bleeding.

00:00:37:08 - 00:00:41:06
So when your white cell count is low, these patients are prone to infections

00:00:41:09 - 00:00:42:22
so they can have infections.

00:00:43:01 - 00:00:46:11
If your hemoglobin is low, these patients are tired,

00:00:46:14 - 00:00:47:15
they get fatigued.

00:00:47:15 - 00:00:51:22
Those are the symptoms. Shortness of breath, those are the symptoms of low hemoglobin.

00:00:52:00 - 00:00:56:16
And if the platelets are low, they can have bruising or even bleeding.

00:00:56:22 - 00:00:58:13
So infections is a big part.

00:00:58:13 - 00:01:00:08
Fatigue is a big part.

00:01:00:11 - 00:01:03:12
And patients with hairy cell leukemia

00:01:03:15 - 00:01:09:06
can also have their spleen enlarge and get symptoms from englarged spleen.

00:01:09:06 - 00:01:11:09
Spleen is an organ

00:01:11:11 - 00:01:13:21
which is present on the upper

00:01:14:00 - 00:01:16:21
left part of our belly or abdomen,

00:01:17:00 - 00:01:20:15
and where hairy cell leukemia

00:01:20:17 - 00:01:24:06
can accumulate in the spleen and the spleen get can get bigger

00:01:24:11 - 00:01:28:07
and as it gets bigger it occupies space in tummy.

00:01:28:09 - 00:01:34:12
And what patients feel like is either a dragging pain or fullness in that area,

00:01:34:15 - 00:01:38:08
or when they try to eat a meal, they get full quickly.

00:01:38:11 - 00:01:39:23
That's called early satiety.

00:01:40:01 - 00:01:42:22
So that's one of the symptoms of hairy cell leukemia.

00:01:43:01 - 00:01:47:12
And patients can also have symptoms like fever, unintentional weightloss.

00:01:47:15 - 00:01:49:06
So these are some of the common symptoms.

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