Leukemia Treatment

As one of the world’s top cancer centers, MD Anderson brings together internationally renowned physicians with a specialized support team to customize your care. These highly experienced experts communicate and collaborate daily, ensuring you receive comprehensive leukemia treatment.  

Many of these doctors focus not just on leukemia, but on specific types of leukemia, giving them a deep level of knowledge and experience to draw on when designing treatment plans.  

The goal of leukemia treatment is to put the disease into remission and ultimately cure the patient. For leukemia, complete remission usually means that the patient’s bone marrow has no detectable microscopic evidence of the disease and his or her blood counts have returned to normal.  

Even with normal blood counts, many leukemia patients require ongoing maintenance therapy to stay in remission. In some cases, patients in remission undergo a stem cell transplant to maintain remission. 

Patients who remain in continued complete remission for an extended period of time are considered cured. This means they have an extremely low chance of recurrence. The exact amount of time it takes to be considered cured differs among leukemia types, but it is typically measured in years. 

Chemotherapy 

Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells, control their growth or relieve disease-related symptoms. Chemotherapy may involve a single drug or a combination of two or more drugs, depending on the type of cancer and how fast it is growing.  

Learn more about chemotherapy. 

Radiation therapy 

Radiation therapy uses power beams of energy to kill cancer cells. Since leukemia cells travel in the blood stream, there is no distinct tumor to target with radiation therapy like there is for other cancers. Instead, radiation is typically used when the disease has spread to the central nervous system. 

Learn more about radiation therapy. 

Stem cell transplantation 

A stem cell transplant (also known as a bone marrow transplant) is a procedure that replaces cancerous bone marrow with new, healthy bone marrow stem cells. Stem cell transplants are usually given after an intense round of chemotherapy that kills the patient’s existing bone marrow cells and prepares the body for transplant. Patients usually must stay in the hospital for three to four weeks after the procedure. 

A stem cell transplant may be needed for patients whose leukemia has returned or has not responded to standard treatments. It may also be recommended if the patient has a high-risk form of leukemia that would make a cure with standard treatments unlikely. This treatment can be physically challenging, so it is typically not given to patients who are older or otherwise unhealthy. 

Learn more about stem cell transplants. 

CAR T cell therapy 

T cells are a type of immune system cell. They help the immune system respond to disease and directly kill diseased cells. In Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, T cells are modified so they are able to recognize and attack cancer cells.  

Learn more about CAR T cell therapy. 

Targeted therapy 

Targeted therapy drugs are designed to stop or slow the growth or spread of cancer. This happens on a cellular level. Cancer cells need specific molecules (often in the form of proteins) to survive, multiply and spread. These molecules are usually made by the genes that cause cancer, as well as the cells themselves. Targeted therapies are designed to interfere with, or target, these molecules or the cancer-causing genes that create them.  

Learn more about targeted therapy. 

Clinical trials 

As a top-ranked cancer center, MD Anderson offers multiple clinical trials for leukemia. Many of these cannot be found anywhere else. Trials explore new drug combinations and new drugs, including targeted therapies and immunotherapies. 

Learn more about clinical trials.

Some cases of leukemia can be passed down from one generation to the next. Genetic counseling may be right for you. Learn more about the risk to you and your family on our genetic testing page.