Treating Disease with Stem Cells This article was written by Dr. Gregory Hale, professor of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, in response to questions posed by Scientific American Magazine regarding the treatment of certain diseases with cord blood stem cells. Ther...

Every 3.7 seconds someone in the United States is receiving a blood transfusion and a total of thirty million units of blood is transfused throughout the world annually (Cannell 1999)1. In the 1600's Louis XIV physician, Jean-Baptiste, performed the first blood transfusion when he took nine o...

Why Blood Types Matter When Europeans first experimented with blood transfusions in the 17th century, so many patients died that the procedure was outlawed in England, France, and Italy. It is said that the Incas in South America began transfusing blood much earlier and that fewer deaths resulted. I...

According to the Cancer Book from the American Cancer Society, Leukemia is a cancer of the blood. It was first identified as a new disease in around 1830 in Germany. The scientific term, "leukemia," comes from the Greek words that mean "white blood." The disease is described as a cancerou...

What are plasmacytoma and multiple myeloma? Plasmacytoma is cancer where abnormal plasma cells called myeloma cells form a tumor in the bone. Multiple myeloma is when you have more than one tumor. Multiple myeloma is a rare and life-threatening cancer of the bone marrow. (Kindersley, 2004) When my h...

Leukemia Acknowledge Leukemia is a cancer that starts in the organs that makes blood, specifically the bone marrow and the lymph system. Acute leukemias and chronic leukemias are the two broad types. Acute leukemias are rapid while chronic leukemias are slower. The cells that make up the blood ar...

Psychosocial Assessment Mr. L. is a 69 year-old male with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), FAB-M1 normal cytogenetics diagnosed in May of 2001. He received chemotherapy (7+3: AraC/idarubican) at that time and achieved complete remission. He developed a relapse in the April of 2002. He deferred...

Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle Cell Anemia is the most common blood inherited disease in the United States, affecting about 72,000 Americans each year, and it has no cure. It commonly affects Hispanics and African Americans rather than Caucasians. It is classified as a disease in which the red ...