A Part of the University of Maryland Medical Center

• General Information About Hairy Cell Leukemia
• Stages of Hairy Cell Leukemia
• Relapsed or Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia
• Treatment Option Overview
• Treatment Options for Hairy Cell Leukemia
• To Learn More About Hairy Cell Leukemia

• 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 Hairy Cell 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.

Untreated Hairy Cell Leukemia

If the patient's blood cell counts are not too low and there are no symptoms, treatment may not be needed and the patient is carefully watched for changes in his or her condition. If blood cell counts become too low or symptoms appear, initial treatment may include the following:

• Chemotherapy.
• Splenectomy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with untreated hairy cell 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.

Progressive Hairy Cell Leukemia

Treatment for progressive hairy cell leukemia may include the following:

• Chemotherapy.
• Biologic therapy.
• Splenectomy.
• A clinical trial of chemotherapy and targeted therapy with a monoclonal antibody (rituximab).

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with progressive hairy cell leukemia, initial treatment. 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.

Relapsed or Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia

Treatment of relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia may include the following:

• Chemotherapy.
• Biologic therapy.
• Targeted therapy with a monoclonal antibody (rituximab).
• High-dose chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of a new biologic therapy.
• A clinical trial of chemotherapy and targeted therapy with a monoclonal antibody (rituximab).

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with refractory hairy cell 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.