What Are The Treatments For Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia?

Dr. Rosen describes the treatment options for chronic lymphocytic leukemia/CLL and explains how often is it fatal.

Dr. Rosen:
The treatment spectrum for chronic lymphocytic leukemia is quite broad. Again, observation is often the initial approach until we have a sense of the tempo of the disease or whether the individual may need an intervention. For some forms of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the median time to requiring treatment can exceed a decade. When we do need to institute treatment, it’s either biologic therapies like antibodies, or it’s chemotherapy or a combination.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia can be fatal, and as the population ages, because we have better control of a whole host of other problems, we’re seeing that more individuals who actually die from the chronic lymphocytic leukemia than die of other causes and have chronic lymphocytic leukemia which still exists in the body.

About Dr. Steven Rosen, M.D., F.A.C.P:
Steven Rosen, M.D., F.A.C.P., is Genevieve Teuton Professor of Medicine, at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and Director of Cancer Programs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Following his graduation with distinction from Northwestern University Medical School's Six-Year Honors Program in 1976, Dr. Rosen completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Rosen's laboratory research focuses on experimental therapeutics and hematologic malignancies.

Visit Dr. Rosen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital