Q: Questions about the early diagnosis of leukemia. Many patients in the clinic are seen because of fever, anemia, bleeding and other discomforts, and by the time they are found, they miss the best time for treatment. Do you have any good methods to improve the early diagnosis rate of leukemia? Thank you!
Shan Yandong: I think it is difficult to diagnose leukemia at an early stage, usually patients come in with symptoms of anemia or bleeding, or fever due to infection, and a few come in with pain in the bones. If there is an abnormality in one of the blood tests, an experienced hematologist may be able to detect early leukemia by tracking it down. However, there is usually no best time to treat leukemia, because there is not much difference in the overall efficacy of treating leukemia a week or a month earlier than a week later. As for the best number of consolidation treatments for leukemia with bone marrow transplantation, our principle is about three to four times.