Chronic myelogenous leukemia, also called CML, is a blood and bone marrow disease that develops slowly and usually appears in people after middle age. It is characterized by the proliferation of a type of white blood cell called granulocytes, according to the National Cancer Institute. The granulocytes of chronic myelogenous leukemia are abnormal cells that the bone marrow produces from myeloid stem cells. These abnormal granulocytes build up in the blood and crowd out platelets and healthy white and red blood cells. Prescription drugs that kill cancer cells are an important part of treatment.
Targeted Therapy
According to the National Cancer Institute, targeted therapy is a type of standard treatment for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. In targeted therapy, doctors use drugs that attack and destroy cancer cells, and leave normal cells relatively unscathed. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the targeted therapy drugs that are used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia. Imatinib mesylate is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that doctors use as the first treatment on patients who are newly diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, explains the National Cancer Institute. It works by preventing the enzyme tyrosine kinase from signaling the myeloid stem cells to differentiate into granulocytes that the body does not need. Another tyrosine kinase inhibitor is dasatinib, which is used for patients in later stages of the disease.
Chemotherapy
The University of California at San Francisco Medical Center states that the initial chemotherapy treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia involves the use of the drug hydroxyurea. Hydroxyurea is an oral therapy that does not carry many side effects with it. It is effective at lowering the white blood cell count, and it can reduce the size of the spleen, which becomes enlarged by the uptake of leukemia cells. Even though this drug can control the symptoms of chronic myelogenous leukemia, it is not a long-term cure for the disease.
Stem Cell Transplantation
The only treatment that represents a long-term cure for chronic myelogenous leukemia is allogeneic stem cell transplantation, according to the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. The term allogeneic refers to the fact that the blood-forming stem cells for transplantation come from a donor and not from the patient. The best donors for this procedure are usually the patient's siblings. Healthy patients, who are under the age of 60 and have a good bone marrow or blood stem cell donor, have a 70 to 80 percent chance of long-term survival if they have the transplant procedure within one year of diagnosis.
