What is the risk of leukopenia after chemotherapy

There are many risks associated with low white blood cells after chemotherapy, such as significantly increased risk of infection, impact on subsequent chemotherapy, and reduced quality of life.

1. Significantly increased risk of infection

White blood cells are an important part of the human immune system, especially neutrophils, which play a key role in resisting the invasion of pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. When the number of white blood cells is reduced, the immune defense ability of the body is weakened, and various infections, such as respiratory tract infection, urinary system infection, intestinal infection, etc., are prone to occur, and the infection may rapidly develop and become serious, and even cause life-threatening conditions such as sepsis.

If the white blood cells are too low, the doctor may need to postpone the next chemotherapy to wait for the white blood cells to recover, which may disrupt the entire treatment plan and affect the control effect of the tumor.

3. Quality of life will decline

Due to the high risk of infection, patients may need to live more cautiously, reduce going out and social activities, and discomfort symptoms caused by infection, such as fever, cough, urinary pain, etc., will also bring greater pain and distress to patients.