How to Treat Leukemia
- 1). Be treated with an aggressive course of chemotherapy. Therapy (including maintenance) usually continues for two to five years.
- 2). Ask about radiation therapy. This requires receiving doses of X-ray for several weeks to several months. Radiation therapy is generally used in addition to chemotherapy.
- 3). Receive a bone marrow transplant. This procedure requires that all the leukemia bone marrow be killed and replaced with healthy marrow. This is a complex treatment and should be done only by doctors who have extensive bone marrow transplant experience and only at state-of-the-art cancer centers. Bone marrow transplants have been shown to improve long-term survival rates of some leukemia patients.
- 4). Prolong survival with active immunotherapy. This procedure is in its infancy. Contact the Leukemia Society of America for further information.
- 5). Receive a blood and/or platelet transfusion for the anemia and/or other blood disorders caused by leukemia.
- 6). Take antibiotics to counteract infections resulting from the overproduction of abnormal WBCs.
Source...