Lymphocytosis - Symptoms and Treatment

Lymphocytosis is a relative (as a percentage of other leukocytes) or an absolute increase in the number of lymphocytes in the blood. It is usually provoked by various infectious diseases, inflammatory and purulent-inflammatory processes, oncological diseases, and also by some chemical and physiological factors.

Symptoms of lymphocytosis

Since lymphocytosis occurs against the background of a particular pathological condition, its symptoms may vary greatly, depending on the cause that caused it.

Symptoms of infectious lymphocytosis

More often than not, increasing the number of lymphocytes or breaking their ratio is a natural immune response of a person to an infection. In this case, the patient has all the symptoms characteristic of the corresponding disease. And often enough, especially if it is a slow, chronic inflammatory process, lymphocytosis is asymptomatic and is found by chance, when passing the tests. In severe cases, a violation of the leukocyte balance can cause an increase in lymph nodes , spleen, sometimes - the liver.

Symptoms of malignant lymphocytosis

In this case, we are talking about lymphocytosis, triggered by oncological diseases, primarily - leukemia. Lymphoblastic leukemia is characterized by incomplete maturation of cells that accumulate in the blood, but do not fulfill their function. As a result, immature cells (blasts) in large quantities circulate in the blood and accumulate in the organs, causing anemia, bleeding, irregularities in the work of organs, increased vulnerability to infections. With a similar disease, the lymphocyte content in the blood increases significantly more than when infectious form (3 or more times). Similarly, lymphocytosis can be a sign not only of leukemia, but also of other oncological diseases such as myeloma or the penetration of metastases of tumors into the bone marrow.

Treatment of lymphocytosis

Since lymphocytosis is not an independent disease, both symptoms and its treatment directly depend on the underlying disease. Thus, in cases of infectious diseases, antipyretic , anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs are often prescribed. Specific treatment of lymphocytosis does not exist, and all measures taken are aimed at combating infection, inflammation and general strengthening of the immune system.