Treating Leukemia Cancer | The Oncology Institute

What Is Leukemia?

Leukemia is a type of cancer that originates in the blood cells, typically the white blood cells. There are many types of leukemia. Some are characterized by whether they grow quickly (acute) or slowly (chronic), and others are classified by the specific type of cell in which they begin. Common types of leukemia include:

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL): This type of leukemia, also known as acute lymphocytic leukemia, originates in the bone marrow. While it is more common in children, adults can also get this cancer.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): This cancer starts in myeloid cells and is most common in older adults.
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL): This cancer originates in lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell found in the bone marrow.
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML): Your bone marrow contains cells that eventually form blood. Cancer that starts in these early forms of blood cells is CML.
Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML): CMML also affects the early stages of blood cell development in your bone marrow. It differs from CML because in CMML, the body produces high levels of immature white blood cells (called blasts) and poorly functioning white blood cells.
Childhood leukemia: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) are the two types of leukemia most common in children and teens, though cancer in children overall is rare.

Leukemia Symptoms

Leukemia is usually diagnosed through blood tests, such as a complete blood count (CBC), which shows whether you have abnormally high levels of white blood cells or abnormal levels of red blood cells and platelets. A peripheral blood smear, flow cytometry, and other blood tests can detect specific leukemia cells.

Your doctor can diagnose leukemia by taking a bone marrow biopsy to collect fluid from your bone marrow. A lab then tests the fluid to confirm leukemia and to analyze the percentage of abnormal blood cells present, which can help determine how advanced the cancer is. Your doctor may also request a spinal tap to determine whether cancer has spread to the spinal cord and brain.

While leukemia doesn’t usually show up on imaging tests, your doctor may order X-rays, CT scans, and other tests to see whether leukemia has impacted your organs, bones, or tissue.

Leukemia signs and symptoms can vary from person to person, and also depend on the type of leukemia. In general, people report:

Getting Started

Leukemia Treatment

Treatment for leukemia will depend on many factors, including your history, the type of leukemia you have, how advanced the cancer is, your preferences, and more. In general, treatments will involve some combination of the following:

Chemotherapy: Through injection or orally, you get a combination of medications that stop leukemia cells from multiplying or kill them entirely.
Immunotherapy: Taking specific drugs helps your body produce more immune cells and target leukemia cells more effectively.
Targeted therapy: Targeted therapies work by focusing specifically on killing leukemia cells while minimizing damage to healthy cells. You may take medications that cut off the blood supply to leukemia cells or prevent the cancer cells from multiplying.
Radiation therapy: This treatment uses precise energy beams to target and destroy cancer cells.
Surgery: In a bone marrow transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant, healthy cells replace damaged early blood cells.

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