Leukemia

Health care practitioners were surprised when they saw 10 cases of a very rare cancer in the New York City area. As it turned out, most of the patients weren't originally from New York.

William G. Wierda, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Leukemia Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses how to best combine and sequence therapies for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Why do some pediatric ALL survivors live the rest of their lives cancer-free, while others face secondary cancers or death?

Gary thought he had emphysema, but ended up preparing to fight for his life.

While the treatment of leukemia has greatly advanced since 1946, so has the organization. In the past seven decades, LRF has raised more than $75 million for its mission of conquering not only leukemia, but all blood cancers.

So, wouldn't it be nice to have a quantitative way to say how deep the remission is? Historically, it’s been felt that if you just scratch the surface and get below the 5 percent blast level, you’re probably going to relapse. And if you get deeper, you might not.

The FDA approved a new combination for patients with newly-diagnosed low-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

"Breathe in God, breathe out cancer," I prayed with as much conviction as I could muster.

The CLL Society is a nonprofit organization that serves the CLL community by offering a platform for patients and caregivers to receive education and support, as well as information on cutting-edge research and treatment options.

While patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) tend to have long life expectancies, with many prescribed to a “watch-and-wait” approach, a recent study by the Cancer Support Community (CSC) found that more than half of patients living with the disease reported that having CLL affects their viewpoints regarding their life expectancy.

The FDA has approved Bosulif (bosutinib) as a first-line treatment for patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), based on findings from the phase 3 BFORE trial.

Patients with blood cancers typically value time spent at home in their end-of-life care, however, health care systemts do not always prioritize this in their own quality measures.

Patients aged 75 years or older diagnosed with hematologic malignancies appear significantly underrepresented in clinical trials submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a retrospective analysis.

To offset an increased risk for serious side effects, patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia say they prefer a substantial increase in progression-free survival in order to accept this negative treatment attribute.

While recent advances in hematology are exciting, they open the door to more questions.

Sprycel (dasatinib), an oral medication that helps reduce the production of damaged white blood cells, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase.

The documentary, “Close to Home: Cancer Survivorship,” aims to educate and inspire people along their journey.

Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often face a difficult choice: risky, intensive chemotherapy that offers a small chance of a cure versus non-intensive chemotherapy meant to improve physical comfort and quality of life.

OVER THE LAST FEW years, significant advances were made in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Several novel therapies, most of them oral, have now been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These include Imbruvica (ibrutinib), a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor; Venclexta (venetoclax), a B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL2) inhibitor; and Zydelig (idelalisib), a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor.

Venclexta (venetoclax), a BCL-2 inhibitor, had promising results in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). According to an updated analysis of a clinical trial, the agent led to negative minimal residual disease (MRD) in 40 percent of patients involved.

THERE ARE THREE STAGES of treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia: induction therapy, consolidation therapy and maintenance therapy.

Treatment advances mean high cure rate for patients with APL.

When Gary found out that his daughter was a match to donate bone marrow to a 69-year-old man, he collapsed and cried on the streets of Santa Monica.

A novel agent is attacking a newly found target in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The newly approved CAR T-cell therapy, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), is being put on the market with a price tag of $475,000 for a single infusion, which is within the range that oncologists predicted.

Kymriah, a CAR T-cell therapy, was approved to treat certain pediatric and young adult patients who have acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Bosulif (bosutinib) was granted a priority review to a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the first-line treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

We can all learn some things from an extraordinary young man.

End-of-life care is of particular concern for elderly patients with AML because prognosis is poor and has not changed in several decades. Median survival for patients 65 or older is roughly two months and drops to as low as one month for patients over 85 years.