What Are Blood and Bone Marrow Cancers?
Bone marrow cancer is a form of cancer that starts in the spongy tissue -- the marrow -- inside your bones. Marrow’s main job is to make blood cells.
Blood cancer is when abnormal cells in the bone marrow grow out of control, disrupting how many blood cells your body makes. Blood cancer affects how your blood cells form and function, mostly starting in the bone marrow. In some conditions, your bone marrow makes abnormal white blood cells that don’t die when they should, outnumbering normal cells and making it hard for your blood to fight infections, carry oxygen, or control bleeding.
Types of Blood and Bone Marrow Cancers
There are many types of blood and bone marrow cancer. Here are a few:
This is the most common. It affects plasma cells. These are white blood cells that fight infection and disease. In multiple myeloma, cancerous plasma cells push out normal, healthy ones and destroy or weaken your bones.
Lymphomas
These usually begin in lymph nodes but can also affect the bone marrow. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma starts in the lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. White blood cells are part of the body's immune system.
If you have this type of blood cancer, your body makes abnormal blood cells. These abnormal cells crowd the bone marrow, so there is less room for healthy blood cells. Usually, it forms in the white blood cells, but it can also happen in other types of cells. It can be either fast-growing (acute) or slow-growing (chronic). There are many types of leukemia. All of them have different treatments.
This is the most common form of cancer in children and teens. About 3 out of every 4 childhood leukemias are acute lymphocytic leukemia. This starts in the bone marrow from early forms of white blood cells and progresses quickly. The rest are usually acute myeloid leukemia. This type of cancer begins in another early form of blood cell and can move rapidly into the blood and spread to other parts of the body.
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer Risk Factors
A risk factor is something that affects your chance of getting a disease. Different cancers have different risk factors. But just because you’re at risk doesn’t mean you’ll actually get sick. And most people who do get bone marrow cancer have no known risks. Talk to your doctor about your concerns.
Here’s a list of known risk factors for more common blood and bone marrow cancers.
Multiple myeloma risk factors
Your chances of getting this type of bone marrow cancer go up as you age. It’s highest if you’re over age 65. Men get it more than women. And it’s more common among African Americans than Whites. Other risk factors include:
- A family history of myeloma
- Working in the oil industry
- Obesity or being overweight
- A history of other plasma cell diseases
Lymphoma risk factors
This is more common among people over age 60. White people in the U.S. are more likely to develop it compared to African Americans or Asian Americans.
Additional risk factors for lymphoma are:
- Exposure to chemicals such as benzene, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy for other cancers
- Autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and Sjogren’s syndrome
- Certain infections, like HIV or hepatitis C
- Being overweight or obese
- In rare cases, having breast implants
Acute myeloid leukemia risk factors
This is more common among men. Risk factors include:
- Smoking
- Long-term exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene
- Chemotherapy drug treatment for other cancers
- Radiation exposure, even to low doses such as X-rays or CT scans
- Certain blood problems
- Congenital diseases, including Down syndrome
- Family history of the illness
Chronic myeloid leukemia risk factors
You may be at risk due to:
- High-dose radiation exposure (such as from a nuclear reactor accident)
- Age. Your risk goes up as you get older.
- Gender. It’s slightly more common in men than in women.
Childhood leukemia risk factors
Most kids with this disease don’t have any risk factors. And doctors don’t know exactly what causes it. Some things that may increase a child’s or teen’s chances of getting it include:
- Syndromes including Down syndrome, Fanconi anemia, or other genetic syndromes
- Having another form of bone marrow disease
- Having a sibling with leukemia, especially an identical twin
- High-level radiation exposure (which can happen from treatment of a previous cancer)
- Chemotherapy drugs and other chemicals, like benzene
- Immune suppression therapy (such as for organ transplant recipients)
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer Symptoms
Multiple myeloma symptoms
In the early stages of multiple myeloma, you might not notice any symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they can include:
- Pain in your bones, especially in the spine, chest, or hips
- Feeling sick to your stomach
- Constipation
- Losing your appetite
- Feeling confused or mentally foggy
- Feeling tired
- Getting infections more easily
- Losing weight
- Feeling weak
- Feeling thirsty
- Needing to pee more often
Lymphoma symptoms
Symptoms of lymphoma can include:
- Fever
- Sweating at night
- Feeling tired
- Itchy skin
- Swollen lymph nodes in the belly, neck, armpits, or groin that aren't painful
- Pain in your chest, abdomen, or bones
- Unplanned weight loss
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) symptoms
In the early stage of AML, symptoms might feel like a stubborn cold or flu. AML is aggressive, so new and more noticeable symptoms can form quickly. These symptoms include:
- Feeling dizzy
- Bruising or bleeding easily, such as frequent nosebleeds and bleeding gums
- Feeling very tired
- Feeling cold
- Fever
- Sweating at night
- Frequent infections or infections that don’t go away
- Headaches
- Losing your appetite
- Unexplained weight loss
- Pale skin
- Shortness of breath
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Feeling weak
- Pain in your bones, back, or abdomen
- Tiny red spots on your skin (petechiae)
- Wounds or sores that don’t heal
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) symptoms
You can have CML without noticing any symptoms at first. The symptoms of CML are usually mild but can get serious over time. Common symptoms may include:
- Feeling tired or weak
- Shortness of breath
- Fever
- Sweating at night
- Unexplained weight loss
- Swelling or discomfort in the upper left side of your abdomen, where your spleen is located
- Feeling full even when you haven’t eaten much
Childhood leukemia
Some symptoms may include:
- Feeling tired
- Fever or sweating at night
- Bruising or bleeding easily
- Losing weight or not feeling hungry
- Tiny red spots under the child’s skin (petechiae) caused by bleeding
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer Diagnosis
Doctors will check your bone marrow to see if it’s making normal amounts of blood cells. This is called a bone marrow test. There are two types: aspiration and biopsy.
Bone marrow aspiration
During this test, your doctor takes a small amount of your bone marrow fluid with a needle. That will give them some idea of what the problem is. It’ll also let them know if you have a fever or infection.
Bone marrow biopsy
If your doctor needs more information, they’ll do a bone marrow biopsy. They’ll remove a small piece of marrow through a bigger needle.
Both tests are simple and safe for most people.
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer Treatment
Treatment depends on the type of cancer you have, how far it has spread, and other factors.
The main treatments are:
Chemotherapy (chemo)
Doctors inject cancer-fighting drugs into your body, or you take them by mouth. They may be used with radiation or other drugs.
Immunotherapy
This treatment boosts your immune system. It may also use lab-made versions of your immune system to kill cancer cells or slow their growth.
Targeted therapy drugs
These drugs pinpoint the changes that happen in your body’s cells to cause cancer. They often have less severe side effects than chemo.
Radiation
Special X-rays and gamma rays are used to attack and shrink tumors. Radiation kills cancer cells by destroying their DNA.
Stem cell transplant
During chemo, cancerous bone marrow cells are killed off. In high-dose chemo, the stem cells that form blood in your bone marrow are also destroyed. A stem cell transplant -- also called a bone marrow transplant -- creates more of the cells that grow in your marrow. After chemo or radiation, you’ll get them through an IV, an injection into your veins.
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer Survival Rate
The survival rate for blood and bone marrow cancer varies depending on the type of cancer you have. Here's a look at some of the rates:
Leukemia
Overall, the 5-year survival rate among people diagnosed with leukemia is 65%. For different subtypes of the condition, the 5-year survival rate is:
- 88% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
- 71% for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
- 71% for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)
- 32% for acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- 24% for acute monocytic leukemia (AML-M5)
Multiple myeloma
The overall 5-year survival rate for people with multiple myeloma ranges from 40% to 82%.
Lymphomas
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has a high survival rate, especially when you get an early diagnosis and modern treatments. If the doctors find cancer in just one area, the survival rate is around 83%. And even in the most advanced stages, more than 60% of people survive.
Childhood leukemia
The 5-year survival rates for different types of childhood leukemia include:
- 90% for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
- 65% to 70% for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
- 50% for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML)
- 60% to 80% for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)
Takeaways
Blood and bone marrow cancers involve the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in your bone marrow, which disrupt normal blood cell production and function. These cancers include leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, each affecting different blood cells and causing issues such as weakened immunity, oxygen transport problems, and trouble with blood clotting.
Risk factors vary by cancer type, age, gender, genetics, and certain exposures, raising your chances of forming these cancers. Diagnosis typically involves bone marrow tests, and treatments range from chemotherapy and radiation to stem cell transplants. Survival rates depend on the type and stage of the cancer, with childhood leukemias generally having higher survival rates than adult forms.
Blood and Bone Marrow Cancer FAQs
Is there a difference between bone cancer and bone marrow cancer?
Yes. Bone cancer is an uncommon type of cancer that begins when your bone cells grow in an uncontrolled way. Bone marrow cancer is a cancer that affects the cells in the spongy tissue inside your bones.
