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Leukemia Blog

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Blog (12)

Childhood Leukemia Survival Rates Reach 90 Percent

Posted 12 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, March 12 – Children with the most common type of leukemia now have a dramatically better chance of survival, a new study shows. The researchers found five-year survival rates among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) increased from about 84 percent to 90 percent from 1990 to 2005. Surviving for five years is considered a cure because so few deaths occur past that timeframe. "We're talking about a disease that was incurable 50 years ago," said study author Dr. Stephen Hunger. "Now we see a 90 percent cure rate. That's pretty remarkable." The study is published in the March 12 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Hunger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's Hospital Colorado, said the clinical trials have helped doctors refine their use and ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

DNA Damage From Chemo May Help Spur Leukemia's Return

Posted 12 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 – The chemotherapy used to treat a form of adult leukemia sets a trap that can result in the return of the disease within years, a new study suggests. The finding confirms the suspicions of specialists who thought chemotherapy drugs could disrupt DNA through mutations and ultimately allow tumor cells to avoid the effects of the medications. "Chemotherapy drugs are absolutely necessary to get leukemia patients into remission, but we also pay a price in terms of DNA damage," study co-author Dr. Timothy Ley, a professor of oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a university news release. These drugs "may contribute to disease progression and relapse in many different cancers, which is why our long-term goal is to find targeted therapies based on the mutations specific to a patient's cancer, rather than use drugs that further damage ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Acute Myeloid Leukemia

FDA Approves Erwinaze to Treat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Posted 18 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

November 18, 2011 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Erwinaze (asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi) to treat patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), who have developed an allergy (hypersensitivity) to E. coli derived asparaginase and pegapargase chemotherapy drugs used to treat ALL. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. White blood cells help the body fight infection and are formed in the bone marrow. Erwinaze is injected directly into the muscle three times a week and works by breaking down one of the body’s protein building blocks (the amino acid, asparagine) that is present in the blood, and is necessary for the growth of all cells. Leukemia cells cannot produce this protein building block. When a patient is treated with Erwinaze the leukemia cells die. Normal h ... Read more

'Mini' Stem Cell Transplant May Help Seniors With Blood Cancer

Posted 1 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 1 – Age in itself should not be a factor in deciding whether blood cancer patients are candidates for stem cell transplantation, according to a new study. Blood cancers include leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. For the study, researchers analyzed long-term outcomes among 372 blood cancer patients aged 60 to 75 who underwent a "mini-transplant," which is a "kinder, gentler" form of allogeneic (cells from another person) stem cell transplantation developed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The five-year rates of overall survival and disease progression-free survival among the patients were 35 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Comparable survival rates were seen when the patients were divided into three age groups – 60 to 64, 65 to 69, and 70 to 75 – suggesting that age plays a limited role in the success of the mini-transplant. While a survival ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma

As One Life Starts, Another May Be Saved

Posted 7 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 7 – A mother cuddling her newborn baby may not know it, but the process that created a new life also has given her the chance to save another. Blood contained in the umbilical cord and placenta is a rich source of stem cells that can be used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and many other life-threatening diseases, according to the National Marrow Donor Program. However, many expectant mothers don't know that they can donate cord blood after childbirth. Others don't donate because they are concerned the process might be expensive or risk the health of their newborn. "Less than 5 percent of parents are storing their children's cord blood," said Frances Verter, founder and director of the Parent's Guide to Cord Blood Foundation. "That's just a tragedy because it's medically important and there is no danger to mother or child from donation." Cord blood is considered valuable ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Lymphoma

Leukemia Survivor Credits Her Life to Tiny Blood Donors

Posted 7 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 7 – Jennifer Jones Austin works as a lawyer and child advocate in Brooklyn, N.Y., devoting her talents to protecting at-risk children. So it may be fitting that in Austin's own hour of need, her life was saved by donations from two newborn children. Austin survived leukemia in 2010 because she received transfusions of stem cells donated from umbilical cord blood that had been drawn shortly after the children's birth. "I would not be here today, sharing my story, if it weren't for those children," Austin, 42, said. She had fallen suddenly ill with a mysterious ailment in September 2009. It started out like the flu, with fatigue and fever, but after a few days, she said, things got significantly worse. "I woke up and I couldn't see," she recalled. "I was blind." Austin was admitted to the hospital and underwent a battery of tests. The diagnosis came back quickly: She had a ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia

Death Rate Higher in Minorities With Acute Leukemia

Posted 22 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Sept. 22 – A new study finds that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to develop acute leukemia than whites. But if they do become ill, they're much more likely to die. "We don't know the reason for the disparity, but now that we know it exists we can investigate why it occurs," said study lead researcher Dr. Manali I. Patel, postdoctoral fellow in hematology/oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute in Stanford, Calif., in a statement provided by the American Association for Cancer Research. "Like all disparities in cancer, there could be any combination of influences; however, we believe that socioeconomic factors and access to care may be playing an important role." After studying medical records of nearly 41,000 patients with acute leukemia between 1998 and 2008, the researchers found that blacks had a 17 percent higher risk of dying of acute leukemia than whites, and ... Read more

Growing Up Near Livestock Tied to Blood Cancers

Posted 28 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, July 28 – Children raised on livestock farms are at significantly greater risk of developing blood cancers – such as leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma – later in life, a new study contends. The researchers pointed out that further studies will be needed before a definitive cause and effect can be established, but they suggested that exposure to particular viruses during childhood may modify the immune system response and result in a higher risk for blood cancer in adulthood. In conducting the study, published in the July 28 online edition of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, researchers compiled information from 114,000 death certificates for people between 35 and 85 years of age who died between 1998 and 2003 in New Zealand. The study found that over the five-year period, more than 3,000 deaths were attributed to blood cancers. Moreover, the ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Multiple Myeloma, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Most Leukemia Patients Recover From 'Chemo Brain' After Transplant: Study

Posted 6 May 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, May 6 – A decline in memory and fine-motor skills is common among patients who undergo a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to treat leukemia or lymphoma, but most patients return to normal within five years, according to a new study. Previous research has shown that the chemotherapy drugs these patients take before transplantation and medicines they take to prevent rejection of the transplanted cells can affect memory and motor skills. This study looked at how long it takes them to recover from those problems, often referred to as "chemo brain." The study included 92 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, acute leukemia, lymphoma or myelodysplastic syndrome, in which the bone marrow does not function normally. The patients had received an allogeneic (cells donated by another person) bone marrow or stem cell transplant. After treatment, the patients' memory and motor skills ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Lymphoma

Study Finds Big Strides Made in Treating Leukemia, Lymphoma in Past Decade

Posted 24 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 24 – Clinicians have made remarkable advances in treating blood cancers with bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants in recent years, significantly reducing the risk of treatment-related complications and death, a new study shows. Between the early 1990s and 2007, there was a 41 percent drop in the overall risk of death in an analysis of more than 2,500 patients treated at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, a leader in the field of blood cancers and other malignancies. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, who conducted the study, also noted dramatic decreases in treatment complications such as infection and organ damage. The study was published in the Nov. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine "We have made enormous strides in understanding this very complex procedure and have yielded quite spectacular results," said study senior ... Read more

3 or More X-Rays May Raise Leukemia Risk Among Kids: Study

Posted 8 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 8 – Researchers report that exposure to three or more X-rays in childhood may double the odds that a child will develop a form of leukemia, although the overall risk remains small. The study authors aren't calling for an end to childhood X-rays, which can be crucial to the treatment of conditions such as pneumonia and broken bones. And the study doesn't definitively prove that the X-rays directly boost the risk of leukemia. However, the researchers are recommending that doctors not order X-rays when they aren't necessary and that they take special precautions regarding CT scans, which deliver much more potentially dangerous radiation to the body. Study co-author and epidemiologist Patricia Buffler called the findings a "very serious alert." "Eliminating or reducing any unnecessary exposure [to radiation] is important," said Buffler, a professor at the University of ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia

Stem Cell, Bone Marrow Transplants Both Benefit Leukemia Patients

Posted 1 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Feb. 1 – Long-term survival rates are similar for leukemia patients who've had either peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) or bone marrow transplants, a new European study says. The study began with 329 leukemia patients who received either PBSC or bone marrow transplants from a matched sibling donor between 1995 and 1999. Detailed information was collected on all the patients who survived longer than three years after their transplant. Ten years after transplantation, 49.1 percent of PBSC recipients and 56.5 percent of bone marrow transplant recipients were still alive. Chronic graft versus host disease was more common among PBSC transplant patients (73 percent) than among bone marrow transplant patients (54 percent), and more PBSC recipients needed immunosuppressive treatment five years after transplantation (26 percent vs. 12 percent). But this did not affect the PBSC ... Read more

Related support groups: Leukemia, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Kids Who Beat Cancer Still Face Heart Risks

Posted 9 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9 – Survivors of childhood cancer have a significantly increased risk for developing heart disease as young adults, a new study finds. The finding came from an analysis of data on 14,358 five-year cancer survivors who were diagnosed before age 21 and 3,899 siblings of cancer survivors. The cancers were leukemia, brain cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, kidney cancer, neuroblastoma, soft tissue carcinoma or bone cancer. The study found that young adult survivors of these childhood cancers are much more likely than others in their age group to have cardiovascular problems, including heart failure, heart attack, heart inflammation and heart valve abnormalities, for up to 30 years after being treated for cancer. They also found that the risk was associated with lower exposure to chemotherapy and radiation treatment than previously thought. "Young adults who ... Read more

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