Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia in adults, and has been called the classical leukemia of the elderly. It differs from chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in that different types of white blood cells are affected, and different drugs are used for chemotherapy. The “chronic” designation implies a long survival time, but this varies widely for different patients. Aggressive disease may produce a survival time of only a few months, while patients with indolent disease have a virtually normal life expectancy.
There is a long list of drugs used to treat CLL, each with different trade-offs between effectiveness and toxicity. The cytostatic agent class of drugs includes chlorambucil, fludarabine, pentostatin, cladribine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, and bendamustine. Monoclonal antibodies include rituximab, alemtuzumab, lumiliximab, and ofatumomab. These are all proteins which must be injected. Other drugs include mitoxantrone, oblimersen, lenalidomide, and flavopiridol. Chlorambucil has been considered a “gold standard”, and still has many advantages for elderly patients, including low toxicity, low cost, and convenience as an oral drug. A recent article reports 90 percent overall response to drug treatment, with almost 50 percent complete remission.
Recurrent CLL is defined as disease progression after at least six months in patients who had achieved complete remission or partial response. Refractory CLL is a more serious condition, in which the patient does not respond to therapy or experiences disease progression in less than six months. These cases can be treated with more aggressive drug therapy, or with a bone marrow transplant.
As in all transplants, bone marrow transplants carry the risk of graft versus host disease. Matched donors are preferred, and there are national and international registries of donors. Research continues into using hematopoietic stem cells from the donor's peripheral blood, or even cells collected from the patient's own blood and then cultured.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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