Pediatric White Blood Cell Disorders

Pathophysiology

Body produces white blood cells (leukocytes), which help fight bacterial infections, viruses and fungi. If your child has too few or too many white blood cells, in general, here's what it means: Low white blood cell count (leukopenia) means having too few leukocytes circulating in the blood. A long-term low white blood cell count increases the risk of infections and may be caused by a number of different diseases and conditions.

Disease statistics

Sixty-seven percent of pediatric renal transplant recipients were anemic at the time of transplantation. The prevalence of anemia increased to 84.3% in the first month posttransplant. From 6 months to 60 months posttransplant, the prevalence of anemia remained high at 64.2% to 82.2%. Only 4 patients (2.5%) were never anemic. Iron depletion was detected in 19 of 26 and 23 of 23 anemic patients 12 and 60 months posttransplant, respectively

Treatment

Treatments for white blood cell disorders depend on several factors, including: The type of disorder, The extent of the disorder, Your child’s overall health, Your child’s response to treatment, Your preferences Our treatments for your child’s white blood cell disorder may include: Chemotherapy, Radiation, Antibiotics, Colony-stimulating factors (these increase the body’s production of blood cells), Drugs to suppress the immune system Stem cell transplantation may be useful for some types of severe white blood cell disorders, particularly those caused by bone marrow problems

Research

A community-based sample (Framingham Offspring Study) of 1393 men and 1401 women who were free of CVD at the onset of the study and who were between the ages of 30 and 59 years at baseline. Time-dependent multiple variable logistic regression methods were used.