Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Treatment Options

Overview. Whenever possible, patients diagnosed with chroniclymphocytic leukemia (CLL) should have their treatment planned by a multidisciplinary team of doctors with expertise in treating cancers of the blood, such as those found at The Lacks Cancer Center. There are a variety of CLL treatment options available. However, the choice of treatment depends on the stage of the disease, the patient’s blood counts, whether there are co-occurring illnesses or whether the liver, spleen or lymph nodes are enlarged. Ultimately, there are five forms of treatment—used either individually or in combination—to treat CLL:

Chemotherapy. This treatment uses potent drugs to eradicate, shrink, slow the growth of cancer, or prevent it from spreading. Typically, a combination of drugs is administered intravenously (directly into the veins) in a series of treatments over a period of weeks or months, with breaks in between so that the patient’s body can recover.

Biologic Therapy. Monoclonal antibody therapy uses laboratory made antibodies (proteins used by the immune system to identify and defuse foreign objects). The antibodies attach to certain substances on cancer cells that can kill them, block their growth, or keep them from spreading. These antibodies are typically given to the patient through an infusion, they may be used alone or to carry drugs, toxins or radioactive material directly to cancer cells.

Chemotherapy with Stem Cell Transplant. Chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a method of giving chemotherapy and replacing blood-forming cells destroyed by the cancer treatment. The stem cell transplantation process is a complex and lengthy one. Stem cells (immature blood cells) are removed from the blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored. The patient is then treated with high doses of drugs, which destroy both the abnormal and normal blood cells in the bone marrow. After the chemotherapy is completed, the stored stem cells are thawed and given back to the patient through an infusion. These re-infused stem cells grow into (and restore) the body’s blood cells.

Stem cell transplants occur in specialized centers around the state and country. The Lacks Cancer Center partners with those centers to provide this key inpatient therapy at those centers.

Radiation therapy. The primary objective of radiation therapy is to kill cancer cells while harming as little normal tissue as possible. This therapy may be used before, during and/or after chemotherapy, and is delivered in one of two ways depending on the type and stage of cancer being treated. Radiation can either be administered to the affected area(s) from outside the body or, in other instances, inserted through a needle or catheter into or near the cancer.

Surgery. Splenectomy is surgery to remove the spleen.

Seek the most aggressive treatments available from our multidisciplinary team with a referral from your primary care physician or with a self-referral by calling 1-877-LACKS-MI or 616-752-LACK(S).