Major Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatments

Drug Therapy Other Than Chemotherapy

Drug therapy other than chemotherapy can be used to treat some patients who have a very specific form of acute myeloid leukemia, where leukemia cells cause uncontrollable blood clotting. The leukemia cells do so by releasing certain proteins into the bloodstream that influence blood clotting. This type of acute myeloid leukemia cannot be treated with traditional chemotherapy alone because once the leukemia cells are killed, the toxic proteins are released into the patient's bloodstream. To prevent the release of these proteins, treatment for these leukemia cells cannot cause cellular apoptosis or death without the proper preceding mediation. Instead, differentiation agents are drugs that work by helping the leukemia cells mature into healthy cells instead of killing them. Because these cells are not dying, they do not release the toxic proteins into the patient's blood. Even though differentiation agents do not work the same as chemotherapy, they can have adverse side effects of their own.

Get the full details on the phases of treatment for acute myeloid leukemia next.