Blood cancer leukemia: chances of curing the disease and relapses
The blood cancer known as leukemia represents a life-threatening danger for the affected patients. Detailed information about the chances of curing the disease will follow later.
Around 8,000 people in Germany contract leukemia every year. Medical research has made significant advances in recent years. They relate to the early diagnosis of the disease and its therapy. This improved the chances of curing the leukemia.
A patient’s specific options for a complete cure depend on various factors. Doctors distinguish between acute and chronic leukemia. In the two types, the preferred therapy and thus the probability of a cure from blood cancer are different.
Chances of curing acute leukemia with chemotherapy
Doctors treat acute leukemia with intensive, aggressive chemotherapy . Her goal is to cure the patient of leukemia. A combination of different cytostatics attacks the cancer cells in order to kill them. This does not work in all cases. The doctors achieve a so-called full remission (the complete regression of the blood cancer) in 60 to 80 percent of the patients. The blood and bone marrow no longer contain any cancer cells. If chemotherapy reduces the number of cancer cells without killing them completely, doctors speak of partial remission.
If the disease can be completely reversed with chemotherapy, there is not necessarily a permanent cure from the leukemia. Patients often experience relapses known as recurrences. Once again, the chances of a leukemia cure depend on the specific form of the cancer. In this regard, acute lymphocytic leukemia exists. A relapse occurs in 50 to 60 percent of cases. In the case of acute myeloid leukemia, the value is even higher. There, a relapse occurs on average in 80 percent of patients.
The chances of a complete leukemia cure increase with time without recurrences. The longer the period of time after remission remains without a relapse, the more likely it is that the therapy will be successful over the long term.
Best chances of recovery with a stem cell transplant
The chemotherapy mentioned is the first way for doctors to treat acute leukemia. However, therapy with cytostatics is not sufficient in some cases to achieve complete remission without relapses. Therefore, stem cell transplantation is another treatment option to increase the patient’s chances of recovery.
Stem cell transplantation is used in the following situations:
- in the case of partial remission, where the blood and bone marrow still contain cancer cells,
- after a relapse,
- in high-risk patients; here the physicians assess the chances of curing leukemia through chemotherapy alone as low.
In the cases mentioned, the transfusion of stem cells represents the patient’s last chance of survival.
The aim of stem cell transplantation is to replace diseased cells in the bone marrow with healthy cells. The healthy cells mentioned are from a donor. In rare cases, the patient supplies the required blood stem cells himself. The procedure requires identical tissue characteristics of the blood cells of the patient and donor. Otherwise, the body of the leukemia patient will reject the donated cells. This makes it difficult to find a suitable donor.
Basically, the chances of curing leukemia are greatest with stem cell transplantation. Between 40 and 60 percent of patients remain free of recurrences for a long time after the procedure. The stated value applies regardless of whether the transplantation took place as part of an initial treatment or due to recurrences.
Therapy and prospects for healing in chronic leukemia
If chronic leukemia is present, chemotherapy has a different objective. This affects the chances of a complete leukemia cure. Although the patients receive therapy with cytostatics, the underlying intention is to control the blood cancer. Consequently, it is not about completely curing the disease.
A permanent cure of chronic leukemia with chemotherapy succeeds in rare exceptional cases. The physicians only achieve the goal of a permanently successful therapy with the explained stem cell transplantation. The statistical chances of a leukemia cure depend on the specific type of blood cancer.
A transplantation of stem cells in the initial phase of chronic myeloid leukemia is considered promising. About 70 percent of patients are alive five years after diagnosis. Doctors consider half of them cured. If the therapy is started later, the chances of success decrease drastically.
Doctors treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia on an outpatient basis for several years. As a result, there is no complete healing, but the therapy realizes symptom-free times. Once again, medical care does not aim for complete healing.
In summary, the chances of a leukemia cure and the likelihood of recurrence depend on the type of blood cancer. Doctors usually begin treatment with chemotherapy. The best chance of success is a transplantation of healthy stem cells.
Further information:
https://www.marienkrankenhaus.com/ueber-uns/kommunikation/fachartikel/das-medizinische-fachgespraech/behandlungsmethoden-und-heilungschancen-bei-leukaemie/
