What causes people to become pale during cancer treatment?
In: Biology
Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled division of cells.
Radiation and chemo both damage the DNA inside cells.
Before a cell divides it does a self-checkup to determine if its DNA is in good enough condition to divide. If a fatal flaw is detected then the cell kills itself through programmed cell death called apoptosis.
This checkup only occurs when a cell is about to divide. So cells that divide frequently will encounter this checkup more often.
Cells that divide frequently are hair cells, bone marrow which makes blood cells, and liver cells.
Hair cells die causing your hair to fall out.
Bone marrow dies which reduces red blood cell count. Less blood equals paler skin.
Liver cells die. Liver is the body’s filter. Less liver cells means more toxins, which impacts the body in a variety of ways.
Targeted radiation treatment can reduce the impact on vital organs.
For higher level treatments the intestinal tissue is impacted causing bowel issues.
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