Blood cancers are serious and life-threatening, but treatments are increasingly saving lives. Prevention, as in most things related to health, is key. But when it comes to blood cancers, not enough is known about what triggers these diseases. Here’s what we do know about blood cancers and their causes.
Most blood cancers start in the bone marrow. There, stem cells develop the three types of blood cells circulating in our bodies: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Blood cancers are most often the result of the normal cell production process getting interrupted by the sudden and uncontrolled production of abnormal blood cells. Those cancerous cells keep blood from doing what it’s meant to do.