A Part of the University of Maryland Medical Center

• General Information About Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Stages of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• Treatment Option Overview
• Treatment Options by Stage
• Treatment Options for Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
• To Learn More About Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

• Hematologic Malignancies Program

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

Treatment Options by Stage

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.

Stage 0 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Treatment of stage 0 chronic lymphocytic leukemia is usually watchful waiting.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage 0 chronic lymphocytic 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.

Stage I, Stage II, Stage III, and Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Treatment of stage I, stage II, stage III, and stage IV chronic lymphocytic leukemia may include the following:

• Watchful waiting when there are few or no symptoms.
• Monoclonal antibody therapy.
• Chemotherapy with 1 or more drugs, with or without steroids or monoclonal antibody therapy.
• Low-dose external radiation therapy to areas of the body where cancer is found, such as the spleen or lymph nodes.
• A clinical trial of chemotherapy and biologic therapy with stem cell transplant.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage I chronic lymphocytic leukemia, stage II chronic lymphocytic leukemia, stage III chronic lymphocytic leukemia and stage IV chronic lymphocytic 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.