Aplastic anemia

Aplastic anemia is a blood disorder that occurs when stopping bone marrow to produce new blood cells, either red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets. In the human body, blood cells have different roles. Red blood cells act as oxygen carriers throughout the body, white blood cells act against infection, while platelets prevent bleeding.
Aplastic anemia is a rare condition that can occur in men and women of all ages. However, this disorder is more common in adults aged 20 years and parents who live in developing countries, including Indonesia. A person with aplastic anemia often feels weak, less strong, and at risk of infection and excessive bleeding.

Aplastic anemia can occur gradually in a few weeks and months. This condition can also appear suddenly. If aplastic anemia occurs in someone with very low blood levels, this condition can be fatal and life-threatening.

Depending on the cause, aplastic anemia is divided into two types, namely:

Hereditary aplastic anemia. This disease is caused by genetic disorders that are more common in children and adolescents. Patients with this disease can also develop other diseases, such as leukemia.
Aplastic anemia is not hereditary. This condition often occurs in adults because of a weak immune system. The disorder can be caused by radiotherapy or chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer, chemical poisons, HIV or Epstein-Barr, or because of the influence of certain drugs.

Symptoms of aplastic anemia

Symptoms of aplastic anemia depend on the type of blood cells that are low in level. If the red blood cells are low, a person will have difficulty breathing, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, and the face will fade.

If the white blood cell count is low, a person will be easily infected and have a fever. If the platelets are below normal, a person will easily experience bleeding, bruising, rashes, nosebleeds and bleeding gums.
Causes of aplastic anemia

Aplastic anemia occurs due to damage to the bone marrow, which slows or slows the production of blood cells. This damage is very dangerous because the bone marrow plays a major role in the production of stem cells (stem cells) which produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Several factors can cause bone marrow damage, including:

Autoimmune disorders. This anomaly causes the immune system to attack healthy cells, including stem cells found in the bone marrow.
Radiation and chemotherapy. Both types of treatment are intended to kill cancer cells. But sometimes, this treatment also helps damage healthy cells.
Virus infection. Aplastic anemia can occur due to the influence of several types of viruses, such as hepatitis, Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus, parvovirus B19 and HIV.
The use of certain drugs. Aplastic anemia can be influenced by several types of antibiotics and drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Exposure to chemical poisons. Exposure to chemical poisons that are often used on pesticides and insecticides can trigger aplastic anemia, especially if exposure occurs continuously.
Pregnancy In pregnant women, aplastic anemia can occur due to the influence of autoimmune disorders, where the immune system attacks the bone marrow during pregnancy.

Diagnosis of aplastic anemia

The doctor will diagnose aplastic anemia by physical examination, symptoms, and a patient's medical history. In addition, the doctor will conduct a blood test and a bone marrow biopsy.

The following explanation:

Blood test. Under normal conditions, levels of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are at a certain threshold. Someone suspected of having aplastic anemia if one or all of the blood cells are below normal.
Bone marrow biopsy. At this point, the doctor takes a bone marrow sample from the pelvis for microscopic examination. Bone marrow with aplastic anemia contains only a few blood cells.

Treatment of aplastic anemia

The type of treatment for aplastic anemia depends on the condition and severity of the patient. The types of treatment for aplastic anemia are as follows:

Antibiotic medicine. People with aplastic anemia often struggle to fight bacteria or viruses because of low white blood cell counts. In addition, aplastic anemia weakens a person's immune system. Antibiotics are needed to prevent or treat infections so they don't get worse.
Blood transfusion. This method is used to control bleeding, reduce visible symptoms and provide blood cells that cannot be produced by the bone marrow, so that blood cell levels return to normal. This treatment can cause increased levels of iron in the blood and disrupt the function of several organs of the body.
Stem cell transplantation. In this method, the doctor will transplant healthy donor stem cells from the donor to be infused with patients with aplastic anemia. However, this treatment does not always work smoothly. In some cases, the patient's body rejects donor cells from the stem. If nothing is done, this condition can cause dangerous complications.
Immunosuppressants. This method aims to control the activity of the immune system that damages stem cells using drugs such as cyclosporine or corticosteroids. In general, this method is used if someone with aplastic anemia cannot be treated with a stem cell transplant method.
Stimulants from the bone marrow. For bone marrow to replicate new blood cells, doctors can provide stimulant drugs such as sargramostim, filgrastim, pegfilgrastim and epoetin alfa. This method is often associated with immunosuppressants.

Prevention of aplastic anemia
The following steps can be taken to prevent the symptoms of aplastic anemia from getting worse: