Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia – General Information

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia – Symptoms

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia – Treatment

Most of the patients suffering from Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia get their prescriptions and advices from their hematologist, a doctor specialized in blood diseases. There are also patients that work with an oncologist, a doctor specialized in cancers. It is very hard to prescribe a specific treatment for each patient because there are many options, but also because every day, new therapies appear. This gives hope to most patients, especially when they prove its long term effectiveness. The main goal in this kind of disease’s treatment is to destroy the affected blood cells that have become contaminated with the gene. In most of the cases, the treatment applied doesn’t cure the patient’s disease, but they can get a long term remission. There is a large variety of effective drugs that are available in the treatment of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. The main goal of the medicines is to stop the abnormal gene from affecting the cells. Most doctors apply several drugs (the most effective ones), which can include imatinib prescribed as Gleevec, dasatinib prescribed as Sprycel, and nilotinib prescribed as Tasigna. However, these types of drugs are administered in tablet form and are considered very powerful cancer drugs that can provoke severe and life threatening side effects.

The main treatment options for treating Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia can include stem cell transplant, chemotherapy, biological therapy and many other medical trials. The stem cell transplant, also known as bone marrow transplant, is considered a potential cure for this type of leukemia. But, as effective it can be, the stem cell transplant is also considered a risky operation which can cause severe complications, some of them, even life-threatening. Bone marrow transplant is used by the most of the doctors because the other treatment options are, in most of the cases, inefficient. Nowadays, the stem cell transplant is generally applied only after the disease has resisted to the all other treatment options or if it has continued to evolve. But, due to the fact that the bone marrow transplant can achieve a cure or, in some cases, a long term remission of the leukemia, the patient has to make another challenging decision choosing between immediate transplant or other treatment option. But, there are cases in which the patient can decide to have his own bone marrow collected and then stored for future harvesting. This type of operation is usually known as bone marrow harvest or the stem cell collection. The operation, in most the cases, is usually recommended for patients who do not find a perfect donor for their bone marrow transplant. Patients suffering from Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia can choose chemotherapy as treatment for their disease. This therapy consists in tablets that are taken in orally, and it is supposed to destroy the excess white blood cells. It is also used as preparation for the bone marrow transplant. Biological therapy consists in an injection, with a medication called Interferon alpha, and was considered the common treatment for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. This kind of procedure is also applied when the female patient is pregnant or when all the other options have failed. But, the Interferon can cause severe side effects which can worsen the patient’s medical health condition.