Blood cancer causes the abnormal production and function of blood cells. The three main types of blood cancer are leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Treatment depends on several different factor,s including the type you have, its stage, your age, and your overall health. Ultimately, you and your healthcare professional will decide which treatment is best for you. Here is a look at some of the most common treatments for blood cancer.
Chemotherapy
This drug treatment uses chemicals to kill cancer cells and is the most common form of treatment for all types of blood cancer. Chemotherapy drugs can be taken in pill form or given through a vein in your arm.
Corticosteroids
Commonly used to treat myeloma, corticosteroids control inflammation in the body by regulating your immune system. They can be taken orally or administered through a vein in your arm.
Biological Therapy
Biological therapy can help your immune system identify and destroy cancer cells, increasing your body’s natural ability to fight the type of blood cancer you have. There are four different types of biologic therapy: monoclonal antibodies, radioimmunotherapy, interleukin 2, and vaccines.
Targeted Therapy
This therapy treats blood cancer with drugs that specifically attack the abnormalities within the cancer cells that allow them to survive.
Radiation Therapy
Cancer cells are damaged by X-rays and other high-energy, radiation-emitting beams. When receiving this kind of treatment, you lie on a table while a machine moves around you, directing the radiation to specific points on your body. Sometimes, radiation is used to prepare for a stem cell transplant.
Stem Cell Transplant
This treatment is a procedure that replaces your diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow. A stem cell transplant will usually follow high doses of chemotherapy. There are two kinds of transplants—autologous transplants, where your own bone marrow or stem cells are used, and allogeneic transplants, where bone marrow or stem cells from a donor are used.
Monitoring
Active treatment may be put off for a later time if your blood cancer is not growing quickly. You will eventually receive treatment, if and when tests confirm that your cancer is beginning to spread.
Clinical Trials
Doctors learn more about blood cancer and other diseases through clinical studies. These studies can sometimes help people, because they will receive new treatments which are not yet available to the public. However, these experimental treatments are not always successful, and patients need to be aware of that going into the process.
