Many patients find that their white blood cells decrease to a greater or lesser extent after chemotherapy, sometimes to the point where they cannot tolerate the next chemotherapy treatment, and they come to the doctor for leukostatic drugs or leukostatic injections. So, why does chemotherapy cause leukopenia? How to treat it? Today we will talk about this issue. First of all, let’s introduce a term called “myelosuppression”. The bone marrow in our body is divided into red marrow and yellow marrow. Red marrow has hematopoietic function and can produce red blood cells, platelets and various white blood cells. Platelets have a hemostatic effect; white blood cells can kill and inhibit various pathogens, including bacteria and viruses; certain lymphocytes can make antibodies. Therefore, the bone marrow is not only a blood-forming organ in our body, but it is also an important immune organ. When a person is born, there is only red bone marrow in the body. As a person ages, there are more and more fat cells in the bone marrow, and a considerable part of the red bone marrow is replaced by yellow bone marrow, and finally only a small amount of red bone marrow remains in the body. When the body is severely deprived of blood, some of the yellow bone marrow can be transformed into red bone marrow and regain the ability to produce blood. What is myelosuppression? Blood cells in the normal human blood stream have a short life span and often need to be constantly replenished. In order to achieve timely replenishment, stem cells, which are the precursors of blood cells, must divide rapidly. Cancer cells, especially those in advanced tumors, also divide very rapidly. In order to inhibit tumor growth, we often take chemotherapy measures to inhibit the rapid division of cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapy drugs are not particularly targeted, but rather they attack all the rapidly dividing cells in the body. Therefore, the rapidly dividing stem cells are harmed and the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow is inhibited. Bone marrow suppression usually occurs after chemotherapy and is first manifested as a decline in white blood cells, with platelet decline appearing later and less severely, while red blood cells are largely unaffected. Therefore, the number of white blood cells and platelets can be measured after chemotherapy to determine whether myelosuppression has occurred. Some patients probably know this, so they test their blood counts just after chemotherapy, and the indicators are normal, so they let their guard down. However, it is important to understand that myelosuppression due to most chemotherapy drugs is usually seen 1-3 weeks after chemotherapy and lasts about 2-4 weeks with gradual recovery, while a few drugs such as Kenzyme, carboplatin, mitomycin, etc. are dominated by a decrease in platelets. Therefore, even if the blood count is normal just after chemotherapy, it is important to test again at 7-10 days after chemotherapy and intervene immediately if myelosuppression is detected. Sometimes, after myelosuppression is detected, patients are clinically given leukostatic injections and oral leukostatic drugs in order to have the next chemotherapy on time. However, most of the drugs that rapidly raise white blood cells do not stimulate the bone marrow hematopoietic function, but rather slow down the rate of apoptosis of white blood cells in the body so that the number of white blood cells in the body can be controlled and the resistance of the body can be improved so that the next chemotherapy can be successfully passed. Therefore, some patients may find that the white blood cells rise and fall quickly after the leuke-raising injection is because the bone marrow has not yet been repaired. The usual clinical chemotherapy cycle is 3-4 weeks, also to allow some time for the bone marrow to recover. What should I do if myelosuppression occurs? First, self-protection. As mentioned before, the white blood cells and granulocytes produced by bone marrow hematopoiesis can improve the body’s immunity and help us prevent infections such as bacteria and viruses. If the white blood cells and granulocytes are reduced and the immunity is lowered, we will get sick more easily than normal people. At this time, we should avoid going to crowded places, wear masks and wash our hands regularly to reduce the chance of infection. Secondly, we should choose a regular hospital for consultation, take oral whitening drugs or subcutaneous whitening injections, and have regular blood tests to understand the bone marrow hematopoiesis. Finally, we can choose Chinese herbal medicine to treat the disease with medicinal and dietary supplements, which will be discussed in detail in a separate article for this section.