There are no alternative treatment options available that can treat, cure, or manage leukemia or any other type of cancer.
People may receive maintenance therapy to help keep the cancer in remission, but chronic leukemia can seldom be cured with chemotherapy. However, stem cell transplants offer some people with chronic leukemia the chance for cure.
While there is currently no cure for leukemia, it is possible to treat the cancer to prevent it from coming back. Treatment success depends on a range of factors. Treatment can include: chemotherapy.
Because of acute lymphoblastic leukemia's (ALL's) rapid growth, most patients need to start chemotherapy soon after diagnosis. Chemotherapy drugs kill fast-growing cells throughout the body including cancer cells and normal, healthy cells. The damage to normal, healthy cells can cause side effects.
If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
In the United States, overall, 5-year survival among people diagnosed with leukemia is 65%. However, these statistics vary greatly according to the specific subtype of disease: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 5-year survival rate is 88%. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) 5-year survival rate is 71.3%.
People in stages 0 to II may live for 5 to 20 years without treatment. CLL has a very high incidence rate in people older than 60 years. CLL affects men more than women. If the disease has affected the B cells, the person's life expectancy can range from 10 to 20 years.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) often develops very slowly. You might need little or no treatment. Although it is not usually curable, the disease can be under control for many years.
Generally for all people with ALL:
more than 65 out of 100 people (more than 65%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after being diagnosed.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. It usually develops very slowly and does not always need to be treated straight away. Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cannot usually be cured, but it can be managed with treatment.
Many people enjoy long and healthy lives after treatment for blood cancer. Sometimes, the treatment can affect a person's health for months or even years after it has finished. Some side effects may not be evident until years after treatment has ceased.
Mel Mann was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia and given three years to live — more than 27 years ago. He enrolled in one of the first clinical trials for a drug called Gleevec (imatinib).
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most fatal type of leukemia. The five-year survival rate (how many people will be alive five years after diagnosis) for AML is 29.5%. Leukemia is a cancer that usually affects white blood cells, though it can start in other types of blood cells.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is typically a slow-growing cancer that may not require treatment. While some people may refer to this as a "good" type of cancer, it doesn't really make receiving a cancer diagnosis any easier.
Aims is to kill any cells that may have survived induction chemotherapy and stop AML returning (relapsing). Over several days, you will have 2-4 chemotherapy sessions (called cycles) with rest periods in between. You may be given a similar combination of drugs to those used in induction, at the same or a higher dose.
Treatment for patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) differs from treatment for patients with other AML subtypes. Because of advances in diagnosis and treatment of this disease, APL is now considered the most curable form of adult leukemia.
Age: The risk of most leukemias increases with age. The median age of a patient diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is 65 years and older. However, most cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) occur in people under 20 years old.
Chronic leukemia usually gets worse slowly, over months to years, while acute leukemia develops quickly and progresses over days to weeks. The two main types of leukemia can be further organized into groups that are based on the type of white blood cell that is affected — lymphoid or myeloid.
Younger people tend to do better than older people. For those younger than 40: more than 50 out of 100 (more than 50%) will survive their leukaemia for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Unlike hospice care, which requires a terminal diagnosis, palliative care for leukemia or lymphoma can begin when a patient receives their diagnosis. The palliative care team works in conjunction with the patient's current team of physicians to ensure all of the patient's needs are being met.
The white cells in the blood grow very quickly, over a matter of days to weeks. Sometimes a patient with acute leukemia has no symptoms or has normal blood work even a few weeks or months before the diagnosis. The change can be quite dramatic.