Anyone who’s been diagnosed with blood cancer has probably spent a lot of time researching the condition to understand more about his or her prognosis. But even if you’ve spent hours poring over the blood cancer facts, there’s always more to know.
Hematologist-Oncologist Tanya Siddiqi, M.D., recently shared information about blood cancer during her appearance on the Talking Hope podcast.
Keep reading to discover the following facts shared by Dr. Siddiqi, who is the medical director of the Division of Lymphoma at City of Hope® Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center:
- Blood cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms
- New therapies may help cure some blood cancers
- Blood cancer patients don’t need to avoid all sugar
If you or a loved one is concerned about possible signs or symptoms of cancer and would like an initial appointment or a second opinion, call us 24/7 at (877) 524-4673.
Blood Cancer Doesn’t Always Cause Symptoms
While some patients experience blood cancer symptoms, that’s not the case for everyone with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers. And because there are so many types of blood cancer, symptoms may differ for everyone.
In fact, there are at least 60 types of lymphoma, which range from very aggressive to very slow growing. In slower-growing types of lymphoma, you may not know you have it unless doctors see numbers in your blood work that don’t look right. But in more aggressive lymphomas, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, you may notice a lump that forms in your lymph nodes.
Because lymph nodes fight infection, they may swell if your body is fighting off an infection. However, if a lymph node keeps growing despite using antibiotics, your doctor may order a biopsy, which may result in a lymphoma diagnosis.
“Don't ignore lumps, especially if they don’t go away, especially after a couple of weeks,” Dr. Siddiqi says. “Most commonly, it's either a lump or it's a blood test that signals early lymphoma. Sometimes it's other symptoms like drenching night sweats, weight loss that's unexplained or severe fatigue.”
New Therapies May Help Cure Some Blood Cancers
Dr. Siddiqi noted that several newer therapies have emerged in the last few years that provide growing promise to people with blood cancer. For example, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy was first approved in the United States in 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s now approved to treat certain types of lymphomas and leukemias, as well as multiple myeloma. It’s a type of immunotherapy that prompts your body to fight cancer cells.
“We all have white cells in our bodies to fight infections, and one of those types of white cells are called lymphocytes,” Dr. Siddiqi says. “We all have B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes. Lymphomas come from B lymphocytes, meaning one of those B lymphocyte white cells changes into a cancer and that's called a lymphoma. But the T lymphocyte pathway of your immune system is still robust and normal, and should be helping fight infections. What we do is we take out those T lymphocytes from the blood by a process called apheresis. The blood goes out from one vein and goes through a machine, the machine collects just those immune cells, and the patient gets the rest of their blood back. And this process takes about four to six hours to collect a bag of T cells.”
The cells are then sent to a lab, where those T cells are re-engineered to help them fight the cancer cells. The cells are then reinfused back into the patient’s body, where they work to detect and destroy cancer cells. “This is FDA-approved, it's saving lives, and now we're working on next steps to make it even better,” Dr. Siddiqi said.
Blood Cancer Patients Don’t Need to Avoid All Sugars
Some people with blood cancer eliminate sugar from their diets because they’ve heard that cancer cells feed on sugar, but you don’t need to follow a sugar-free diet after a blood cancer diagnosis, Dr. Siddiqi says.
In reality, glucose (sugar) fuels every cell in the body, not just cancer cells. “We know that cancers have glucose receptors and therefore take up glucose to grow, but the body always makes glucose because our brain and our heart cannot live without glucose,” Dr. Siddiqi says. “So you'll never get glucose out of your system because you can't survive without it.”
For that reason, Dr. Siddiqi advises patients to eat a balanced diet in moderation, without going to extremes. She recommends choosing fresh fruits and other sources of natural sugar if you’re looking for something sweet.
“I usually tell everybody, ‘You need to have a balanced, healthy diet. Make sure you get enough protein. You still need some carbohydrates. You need to exercise regularly. That's good for the immune system in general. You need to drink plenty of water as opposed to sodas and caffeine.’ ”
If you or a loved one is concerned about possible signs or symptoms of cancer and would like an initial appointment or a second opinion, call us 24/7 at (877) 524-4673.