Veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, who was battling leukemia for the last two years, died at Mumbais Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital on Thursday (April 30) morning. He was 67. Rishi Kapoor got treated for leukemia in the US for a year and had returned to India in September 2019.

Leukemia is a blood cancer caused by a rise in the number of white blood cells in your body. Those white blood cells crowd out the red blood cells and platelets that your body needs to be healthy. The extra white blood cells dont work right. A cancer of blood-forming tissues, hindering the body's ability to fight infection.

Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director, Haematology, Haemato Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram says:

Leukemia, often fatal, is a blood cancer. As with cancer, it is associated with an exponential rise in the number of white blood cells. Symptoms begin to manifest slowly and can often be mistaken for something else sweating uncontrollably, shaking, fever, vomiting. It is caused by huge was is reduced focus on ones own health.

Intake of processed food, soda, artificial and synthetic sweets and preservatives, pesticide use in farms, lack of physical exercise, excessive tobacco and drug consumption, excessive alcohol intake, caffeine consumption are the main culprits causing cancer. Family history also plays an important role in a leukemia diagnosis. Only through screening can it be identified and if caught early managed. One needs to be mindful and ensure that they are employing good lifestyle habits.

This means eating green leafy vegetables and fruits, going for a 30 minutes walk every day or engaging in any other form of exercise for 30 minutes a day, drinking adequate amount of water to keep flushing out the toxins, controlling or completely eliminating our use of tobacco and other unnatural substances. Processed food and sugars should be consumed in control, they are the single largest cause of mutation to cells.

Leukemia symptoms vary, depending on the type of leukemia. Common leukemia signs and symptoms include:

Leukemia can also cause symptoms in organs that have been infiltrated or affected by the cancer cells. For example, if the cancer spreads to the central nervous system, it can cause headaches, nausea and vomiting, confusion, loss of muscle control, and seizures.

Leukemia can also spread to other parts of your body, including:

The major types of leukemia are:

Blood has three types of cells: white blood cells that fight infection, red blood cells that carry oxygen, and platelets that help blood clot. Every day, your bone marrow makes billions of new blood cells, and most of them are red cells. When you have leukemia, your body makes more white cells than it needs. These leukemia cells cant fight infection the way normal white blood cells do. And because there are so many of them, they start to affect the way your organs work. Over time, you may not have enough red blood cells to supply oxygen, enough platelets to clot your blood, or enough normal white blood cells to fight infection.

Leukemia is usually treated by a hematologist-oncologist. These are doctors who specialize in blood disorders and cancer. The treatment depends on the type and stage of the cancer. Some forms of leukemia grow slowly and don't need immediate treatment. However, treatment for leukemia usually involves one or more of the following:

Source: Information has been taken from various health website

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What Is Leukemia? Here's all you need to know - India Today