Tumour diseases

A blood cancer (haematological malignancy) is a disease that is most often caused by a malfunction of germline haematopoietic cells, which subsequently develop into a tumour cell population. This includes leukaemias, lymphomas, multiple myelomas, myeloproliferative diseases and myelodysplastic syndrome.

The cancers treated at the IHBT include mainly leukemias, both acute (acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)) and chronic (chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), chronic lymphocytic (lymphocytic) leukemia (CLL)).

Leukaemia can generally be characterised as a disease characterised by a tumour-like multiplication of one type of white blood cell, resulting in suppression of normal blood production. This is manifested by various non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, susceptibility to infection or bleeding.

Another type of haematological malignancy we treat here is myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). This is characterised by ineffective haematopoiesis, in which most of the blood cells are lost while still in the bone marrow and their quantity in the blood is then reduced. Manifestations of MDS include anaemia (fatigue, pallor, shortness of breath), susceptibility to infection and bleeding.

Last but not least, we also treat myeloproliferative diseases. These are characterized by excessive production of red blood cells, platelets or fibroblasts in the bone marrow. This group of diseases includes polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF).

Therapy for blood cancers depends on the type and stage of the disease as well as other factors such as the age of the patient. Treatment is most often with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy or hematopoietic cell transplantation.

For more information on individual diseases, including downloadable patient brochures, please visit the Czech Leukemia Group - for Life (CELL) website and the Czech MDS Group website.