Midlands Haematology & Oncology Centre

This includes Breast cancer, Lung cancer, Prostate cancer, Colorectal cancer, Melanoma, Bladder cancer, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Kidney cancer.

A tumor is an abnormal growth of cells that serves no purpose. A benign tumor is not a malignant tumor, which is cancer. It does not invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body the way cancer can. Malignant refers to cancer cells that can invade and kill nearby tissue and spread to other parts of your body.

This refers to the research, diagnosis, treatment, and treatment of blood-related conditions and diseases.

Can be inherited or acquired after birth. The most common cause of acquired bone marrow failure in children and adults is acquired aplastic anemia. When the bone marrow’s hematopoietic stem cells are damaged, the body cannot make enough red, white, or platelet blood cells.

This refers to a group of blood disorders and diseases that affect red blood cells. These disorders include both sickle cell disease and thalassemia.

Mature red blood cells are reliant on the glycolytic pathway for energy production and the hexose monophosphate shunt for cell protection from oxidative insults. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency is the most common red cell enzyme disorder worldwide. Frequent clinical presentations include neonatal jaundice and episodic hemolysis after exposure to oxidative stress.

Immunodeficiency disorders prevent your body from fighting infections and diseases. This type of disorder makes it easier for you to catch viruses and bacterial infections. Immunodeficiency disorders are either congenital or acquired. A congenital, or primary, disorder is one you were born with.

Bleeding disorders are a group of disorders that share the inability to form a proper blood clot. They are characterized by extended bleeding after injury, surgery, trauma or menstruation. Sometimes the bleeding is spontaneous, without a known or identifiable cause. Improper clotting can be caused by defects in blood components such as platelets and/or clotting proteins, also called clotting factors. Some bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia, can be inherited or acquired. Others can occur from such conditions as anemia, cirrhosis of the liver, HIV, leukemia and vitamin K deficiency. Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot, known as a thrombus, within a blood vessel. It prevents blood from flowing normally through the circulatory system.

These are forms of cancer that begin in the cells of blood-forming tissue, such as the bone marrow, or in the cells of the immune system. Examples of hematologic cancer are acute and chronic leukemias, lymphomas, multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes.

Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that develops when white blood cells called lymphocytes grow out of control. Lymphocytes are part of your immune system. They travel around your body in your lymphatic system, helping you fight infections. Your lymphatic system runs throughout your body, similar to your blood circulatory system, carrying a fluid called lymph. The fluid passes through lymph nodes (glands), which are spread throughout your body. If you have lymphoma, your lymphocytes divide in an abnormal way or do not die when they should. The abnormal lymphocytes build up, usually in lymph nodes in your armpits, neck or groin.

This is also known as multiple myeloma, which is a blood cancer arising from plasma cells. Myeloma develops when DNA is damaged during the development of a plasma cell. This abnormal cell then starts to multiply and spread within the bone marrow. The abnormal plasma cells release a large amount of a single type of antibody – known as paraprotein – which has no useful function. Unlike many cancers, myeloma does not exist as a lump or tumour. Most of the medical problems related to myeloma are caused by the build-up of abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow and the presence of the paraprotein in the body.

In a stem cell transplant (SCT), patients get an infusion of healthy blood-forming cells (stem cells). The healthy stem cells may come from the blood of the patient, from a donor, or from the umbilical cord blood of a newborn baby. (When the stem cells come from the bone marrow of the donor, it is called a bone marrow transplant. But stem cell transplants are now much more common than bone marrow transplants.) An SCT is an infusion of blood-forming cells, not a surgery. There are two major types of SCT’s. A stem cell transplant that uses a patient’s own stem cells that were collected before treatment is called an autologous (or “auto”) stem cell transplant. An allogeneic (“allo”) stem cell transplant uses stem cells of a donor. Stem cell and bone marrow transplants are used with high-dose chemotherapy to treat and control some cancers.