Causes Of Aplastic Anemia

Radiation And Chemotherapy

a nurse adjusting the drip for an older patient. Photo Credit: Dreamstime @Dreamz

Another set of factors known to cause aplastic anemia are radiation and chemotherapy. These therapies are known to be effective at killing off cancerous cells, but they sometimes inadvertently end up harming healthy stem cells found in the bone marrow. In fact, chemotherapy can cause blood cell counts to fall as quickly as one week after starting treatment. This reduces the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in the body. Thankfully, this reduction is usually temporary and should improve after radiation therapy or chemotherapy have been successfully completed. However, when this does not happen, serious consequences such as aplastic anemia may result.

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