Different types of treatment available for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment) and some are being tested in clinical trials. Before starting treatment, patients should consider participating in a clinical trial.

A treatment clinical trial is a research study designed to improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for cancer patients. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than treatment “standard”, the new treatment may become standard.

There are four types of standard treatment:
- Make careful observations
Careful observation is the rigorous monitoring of a patient’s condition without giving any treatment until they appear or change the symptoms. It is also called observation. During this period, deal with problems caused by the disease, such as infection.

- Radiotherapy
Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high energy X-rays or other radiation to kill cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer.

Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer. The method of administration of radiation therapy depends on the type and stage of cancer treatment.

- Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the proliferation of cancer cells by eliminating or preventing cell division. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can affect cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy).

When chemotherapy is placed directly into the spine, a body cavity such as the abdomen, or an organ, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas. The method of administration of radiation therapy depends on the type and stage of cancer treatment.

- Surgery
Splenectomy is surgery to remove the spleen.

Other types of treatment are being tested in clinical trials and include the following:
- Monoclonal Antibody Therapy
Monoclonal antibody therapy is a cancer treatment that uses antibodies made in the laboratory from a single type of immune system cells. These antibodies can identify substances on cancer cells or normal substances in the body that contribute to the growth of cancer cells.

The antibodies attach to the substances and kill cancer cells or block their growth. Monoclonal antibodies are given by infusion. They can be used alone or to deliver drugs, toxins or radioactive material directly into cancer cells.

- Chemotherapy with stem cells transplantation
The primary cell transplant is a method of giving chemotherapy and replacing blood-producing cells destroyed by cancer treatment. Cells are removed (immature blood cells) from blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored.

At the end of primary chemotherapy stored cells are thawed and returned to the patient through an infusion. Over time, these primary cells returned to the body grow into (restore) in the cells of the body.

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