Treatment of refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia may include the following:

• A clinical trial of chemotherapy with stem cell transplant.
• A clinical trial of a new treatment.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia ¹.

Glossary Terms

Treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells.

CLL. A slow-growing type of leukemia (blood cancer) in which too many lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the blood and bone marrow. Also called chronic lymphoblastic leukemia and CLL.

A type of research study that tests how well new medical approaches work in people. These studies test new methods of screening, prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of a disease. Also called a clinical study.

Cancer that does not respond to treatment. The cancer may be resistant at the beginning of treatment or it may become resistant during treatment. Also called resistant cancer.

A method of replacing immature blood-forming cells that were destroyed by cancer treatment. The stem cells are given to the person after treatment to help the bone marrow recover and continue producing healthy blood cells.