What is the Treatment for Blood Cancer?

There are several different treatments for blood cancer. The most common is a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but treatment often depends on the type of blood cancer the patient has. The three most common types are leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. All of these types of cancer in some way affect how the body produces blood and, in effect, how it can provide defense against diseases.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy involves a mixture of chemicals to kill the cancer cells. The chemicals can be taken orally by pill or injected intravenously. Radiation then uses x-rays to damage the existing cancer cells and stop the growth of new cells. Depending on the location of the cancer, radiation may be localized to a specific part of the body, or it may be performed over the entire body.

Stem cell transplants are also used as a treatment for blood cancer, though this is considered a more high risk treatment. It utilizes the chemotherapy and radiation therapy combination, but then follows with placement of new stem cells in the patient's body. This treatment seems to be most effective and less risky in younger patients or in patients who are still in the early stages of the disease. Stem cell transplants are similar to bone marrow transplants, another blood cancer treatment. Instead of bone marrow, however, it is stem cells that are being put in the patient's body.

There are also several different types of stem cell transplants. Autologous and peripheral transplants both use stem cells donated by the patient; however, with autologous transplants the cells are donated before chemotherapy and radiation therapy. With peripheral transplants, stem cells are donated after therapy is complete. Peripheral transplants require an extra step in which growth factors must be added to the stem cells before being replaced in the patient. Allogenic transplants are also a form of stem cell transplants in which the cells are provided by someone else, usually a blood relative. This type of transplant is risky because there is a chance the body may reject another person's cells.

Another type of treatment for blood cancer is radioimmunotherapy, or target therapy. In this treatment, an immunotoxin, which is a molecule that is formed by combining a toxin with an antibody, is injected into the patient. The immunotoxin then joins a cancer cell and releases the toxin into the cell with the goal of killing it. This treatment is still experimental, as is a similar treatment called biological therapy. This treatment also uses cells from the immune system, which are replicated in the lab to encourage the immune system to destroy the cancer cells.