Leukemia

Leukemia

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

The four types of treatment that your child may undergo are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, bone marrow transplant and biological therapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy involves drugs to kill cancer cells. These drugs may be taken orally or may be injected into by a needle into a vein or muscle. This type of therapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. For acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chemotherapy drugs may be injected through the spine into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. This is known as intrathecal chemotherapy.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses X-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) usually comes from a machine outside the body, called external beam radiation therapy.

Bone Marrow Transplant

Bone marrow transplant (BMT) is a newer treatment for this condition. The first step of the treatment involves high doses of chemotherapy - sometimes with radiation -- to destroy all of your child's bone marrow. Healthy marrow from a donor, whose tissue is the same as or almost the same as your child's, is transplanted into your child. The donor may be a twin, who is the best match; a brother or sister; or other person not related. The healthy marrow from a donor is given to your child intravenously through a needle in a vein to replace the marrow that was destroyed. This process, involving marrow from a donor, is called an allogeneic bone marrow transplant.

Another type of bone marrow transplant, called an autologous transplant, is being studied in clinical trials. This procedure involves transplanting your child's own bone marrow. The marrow is taken from your child and treated with drugs to kill cancer cells. The marrow is frozen and saved. Your child then is given a high-dose chemotherapy - sometimes with radiation -- to destroy all of your child's bone marrow. The frozen marrow that was saved is thawed and transplanted back into your child, injected intravenously through a needle in a vein. For the most part, autologous bone marrow transplants have not been effective in treating acute myelogenous leukemia.

To learn more, visit the section on specific BMT treatment options for leukemia.

Biological Therapy

Biological therapy attempts to stimulate or restore the ability of your child's immune system to fight cancer. It uses substances produced by your child's body — or made in a laboratory — to boost, direct or restore the natural defenses against disease. Biological therapy is sometimes called biological response modifier therapy or immunotherapy.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 5, 2008