Goals of Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
When you don't have symptoms and your CLL does not seem to be getting worse, close monitoring is usually preferred over treatment. This is often referred to as watch and wait. When symptoms appear or worsen, treatment aims to stop the CLL from progressing.
Though there is no cure for CLL, some goals of treatment are to:
- Relieve symptoms
- Keep the disease from advancing
- Get the disease into remission
If your doctor says you need treatment, there are many options to help manage your condition. Your CLL can be treated in a number of ways, including antibody therapy and/or chemotherapy. Often, doctors will combine the 2 types of treatment.
Once you begin treatment, your doctor will need to regularly check:
- Your symptoms
- The size of your lymph nodes, liver, or spleen
- Your blood count measures