Major Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatments

Surgical Intervention

Surgical intervention in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia is limited to the placement of a central venous catheter and the removal of a myeloid sarcoma or isolated tumor of leukemia cells. Unlike other cancers that usually cause a malignant tumor to grow in a localized area, acute myeloid leukemia causes the growth and multiplication of cancerous cells in a patient's blood. Since these malignant cells are freely circulating throughout the body, they cannot be surgically removed the same way a cancerous tumor can.

In rare cases where a myeloid sarcoma develops, it can be removed with surgery. For patients who need to undergo chemotherapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, a central venous catheter will need to be placed. The surgical procedure for this involves the placement of a small flexible tube into a large vein located in the chest that exits the body just under the skin of the patient's upper arm or chest. Once in place, this catheter can be used for several months to provide direct access to the patient's bloodstream for drug administration.

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.