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

The 2005 Update Committee agreed unanimously that reduction in febrile neutropenia (FN) is an important clinical outcome that justifies the use of CSFs, regardless of impact on other factors, when the risk of FN is approximately 20% and no other equally effective regimen that does not require CSFs is available.

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

From 1978 to 1988. Patients were followed for an average of 5.2 ± 2.0 years. Age-specific prevalence and incidence rates of CVA in patients with the common genotypes of sickle cell disease were determined, and the effects of hematologic and clinical events on the risk of CVA were analyzed. The highest rates of prevalence of CVA (4.01%) and incidence (0.61 per 100 patient-years) were in sickle cell anemia (SS) patients, but CVA occurred in all common genotypes.