What is the goal of treating CLL?

The goal of any CLL treatment is to lower or get rid of the CLL cells in the blood and the bone marrow. Any treatment plan you and your doctor might choose will be a treatment that has worked when tested in some patients. But not all patients are the same. That is why some therapies that work for some patients may not work for others.

What are the treatment options for CLL?

There are many choices for treating CLL. If one kind of treatment does not work, or if it works for a while and then your disease comes back, your doctor may try a different treatment.

The treatment choices may include:

Chemotherapy: A cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, or by stopping them from increasing in number.

Biologic therapy: A type of treatment that works with your immune system. Monoclonal antibody therapy is one type of biologic therapy used to treat CLL. It can help the immune system kill leukemia cells.

Radiation therapy: A treatment that uses high-energy X-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells and keep them from growing.

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