A Part of the University of Maryland Medical Center

• General Information About Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Other Myeloid Malignancies
• Stages of Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Other Myeloid Malignancies
• Recurrent Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia
• Treatment Option Overview
• Treatment Options for Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, and Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia
• To Learn More About Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Other Myeloid Malignancies

• Hematologic Malignancies Program

• Diagnosis and Treatment...
• Physicians and Staff
• Q&A with Dr. Maria Baer
• Patient Education...
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    Related Resources
• Clinical Trials
• Information for Patients

Treatment Options for Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, and Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

A link to a list of current clinical trials is included for each treatment section. For some types or stages of cancer, there may not be any trials listed. Check with your doctor for clinical trials that are not listed here but may be right for you.

Newly Diagnosed Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Treatment of newly diagnosed childhood acute myeloid leukemia may include the following:

• Combination chemotherapy plus central nervous system sanctuary therapy with intrathecal chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial comparing different chemotherapy regimens (doses and schedules of treatment).
• A clinical trial of combination chemotherapy and targeted therapy with a proteasome inhibitor or a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with or without stem cell transplant.

Treatment of newly diagnosed childhood acute leukemia with a granulocytic sarcoma (chloroma) may include chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with untreated childhood acute myeloid leukemia and other myeloid malignancies. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission

Treatment of childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) during the remission phase (consolidation/intensification therapy) depends on the subtype of AML and may include the following:

• Combination chemotherapy.
• Stem cell transplant.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with natural killer cell transplant after chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of combination chemotherapy and targeted therapy with a proteasome inhibitor or a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with or without stem cell transplant.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood acute myeloid leukemia in remission. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Recurrent Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Treatment of recurrent childhood acute myeloid leukemia may include the following:

• Combination chemotherapy.
• Combination chemotherapy and stem cell transplant.
• A second stem cell transplant.
• A clinical trial of a new anticancer drug.
• A clinical trial of combinations of new anticancer drugs, new biologic agents, and stem cell transplant using different sources of stem cells.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with recurrent childhood acute myeloid leukemia. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia may include the following:

• All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) plus chemotherapy.
• Arsenic trioxide therapy.
• Central nervous system sanctuary therapy with intrathecal chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of arsenic trioxide therapy and all-trans retinoic acid plus low-dose chemotherapy.

Supportive care treatments are used to manage problems caused by the disease, such as infection, bleeding, and anemia.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood acute promyelocytic leukemia (M3). For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Recurrent Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Treatment of recurrent acute promyelocytic leukemia may include the following:

• All-trans retinoic acid therapy (ATRA) plus chemotherapy.
• Arsenic trioxide therapy.
• Targeted therapy with a monoclonal antibody.
• Stem cell transplant.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with a proteasome inhibitor and chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of new combinations of chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Children with Down Syndrome and AML

Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in children who have Down syndrome may include combination chemotherapy plus central nervous system sanctuary therapy with intrathecal chemotherapy.

Childhood Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Treatment for childhood chronic myelogenous leukemia may include the following:

• Targeted therapy with Gleevec.
• Stem cell transplant or other tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients who do not respond to therapy with Gleevec or whose disease comes back after treatment.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with other tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
• A clinical trial of stem cell transplant using lower doses of chemotherapy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood chronic myelogenous leukemia. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

Treatment of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is usually stem cell transplant. If JMML recurs after stem cell transplant, a second stem cell transplant may be done.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Transient Myeloproliferative Disorder

Transient myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) usually goes away on its own. For TMD that does not go away on its own, treatment may include the following:

• Transfusion therapy.
• Leukapheresis.
• Chemotherapy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with acute myeloid leukemia/transient myeloproliferative disorder. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) may include the following:

• Watchful waiting.
• Stem cell transplant.
• Combination chemotherapy.
• Lenalidomide therapy.
• A clinical trial of stem cell transplant using lower doses of chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of a new anticancer drug or targeted therapy.

Supportive care treatments are used to manage problems caused by the disease, such as infection, bleeding, and anemia.

If the MDS progresses to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), treatment will be the same as treatment for the newly diagnosed patient with AML.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood myelodysplastic syndromes. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.