fevers

with leukemia or other cancers, how is having a fever related?  meaning,  i have read about this being a symptom.  is it fevers that dont go away, last for weeks, are constantly happening?  how are these cancer fevers different than say a kid or adult getting a cold w/fever?  any insight would be great.  thanks.

[askingyou]

I have the same question as you ny2125.  After my son's chemo treatment, the hospital sent him home and after the second day he developed a fever. Went up to 104. No sooner of getting home he had to return back and it's been 9 days with a fever that fluctuates.   They've done blood tests and it has all come back negative. But they say, it may be an infection somewhere in his system.  Or they just don't know, they say.  Doctors don't know?  Modern medicine doesn't know  after all these years?
I'm wondering with his blood count so low, that his body is trying to compensate for what his body doesn't have?.  Or from  nutritional  deficiency.? Or is the body just trying to fight the Chemo effects?.   Hope you find the answer.

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  Fever in patients with leukemia or other cancers may be due to one of two things.  First, cancers usually overproduce a substance called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a).  This substance has various effects which help the cancer cells survive and proliferate.  TNF-a also induces inflammatory reactions and fever.  So the development of fever may mean elevated levels of TNF-a in the body.

The second possible cause of fever in cancer patients is infection.  But this kind of fever is different from the ones that normal people get when they have colds.  Cancer patients usually have a dysfunctional immune system.  Either their white cell counts are very low, or they have an excess of white cells (i.e. leukemia) but these cells are abnormal and don't function properly in fighting infection.  Cancer patients who have fever from infection are therefore in a more dangerous situation than ordinary people who have infection.  When cancer patients get into this kind of situation, hospital care is usually necessary.

[ny2125]

thanks for answering.  but i am still not sure why "fever" can  be a sign of leukemia.  so, how does a dr. or person know if the fever they have is from a cold/flu or cancer?  this is obviously before any diagnosis of cancer.  how is the cancer fever different from a cold fever?  does it last longer?  constant?  

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  Although fever can be one of the symptoms accompanying leukemia, it is not necessary to have fever to be diagnosed with this disease. To diagnose leukemia, you need to see atypical white blood cells in a bone marrow smear/ biopsy or a peripheral blood smear.  You do not diagnose leukemia, or any cancer for that matter, primarily on the basis of the character of the fever.