Today, the average five-year survival rate for all types of leukemia is 65.8%. That means about 69 of every 100 people with leukemia are likely to live at least five years after diagnosis. Many people will live much longer than five years. The survival rates are lowest for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
The 5-year survival rate for people age 20 and older is 40%. The 5-year survival rate for people under age 20 is 89%. Recent advances in treatment have significantly lengthened the lives of people with ALL. However, survival rates depend on several factors, including biologic features of the disease and a person's age.
While there is currently no cure for leukemia, it is possible to treat the cancer to prevent it from coming back. Treatment success depends on a range of factors. Treatment can include: chemotherapy.
In the United States, overall, 5-year survival among people diagnosed with leukemia is 65%. However, these statistics vary greatly according to the specific subtype of disease: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 5-year survival rate is 85.4%. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) 5-year survival rate is 68.8%.
If caught early, leukemia can be cured by undergoing several cancer treatments.
Many people enjoy long and healthy lives after being successfully treated for their blood cancer. Sometimes, however, the treatment can affect a person's health for months or even years after it has finished. Some side effects may not be evident until years after treatment has ceased. These are called 'late effects'.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can rarely be cured. Still, most people live with the disease for many years. Some people with CLL can live for years without treatment, but over time, most will need to be treated.
CLL has a very high incidence rate in people older than 60 years. CLL affects men more than women. If the disease has affected the B cells, the person's life expectancy can range from 10 to 20 years.
Around 20 out of 100 (around 20 percent) will survive their leukemia for five years or more after diagnosis. Your age affects how well leukemia responds to treatment. Younger people have a better prognosis.
In general, about 80% to 90% of adults will have complete remissions at some point during these treatments. This means leukemia cells can no longer be seen in their bone marrow. Unfortunately, about half of these patients relapse, so the overall cure rate is in the range of 40%.
This number represents the percentage of people who are still alive 5 years after a diagnosis. The 5-year relative survival rate for all types of leukemia is 65 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) .
There are different types of leukemia which can be grouped into acute leukemias and chronic leukemias, and it's a complete myth that leukemia is incurable. Thanks to advancements in treatment such as better chemotherapy and transplant regimens, many patients can be cured of their disease.
Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells. White blood cells (also called leukocytes or WBCs) fight infections and other diseases. In leukemia, the bone marrow (spongy material inside the bones) makes many white blood cells that aren't normal.
Age-specific incidence rates fall gradually from age 0-4 and remain stable throughout childhood and early adulthood, rates rise sharply from around age 55-59. The highest rates are in in the 85 to 89 age group for females and males. Incidence rates are significantly lower in females than males in most age groups.
These blood cells replicate or accumulate more slowly and can function normally for a period of time. Some forms of chronic leukemia initially produce no early symptoms and can go unnoticed or undiagnosed for years.
Leukemia starts when the DNA of a single cell in your bone marrow changes (mutates). DNA is the “instruction code” that tells a cell when to grow, how to develop and when to die. Because of the mutation, or coding error, leukemia cells keep multiplying.
The average person's lifetime risk of getting CLL is about 1 in 175 (0.57%). The risk is slightly higher in men than in women. CLL mainly affects older adults.
The cure rates and survival outcomes for patients with ALL have improved over the past few decades. Today, nearly 90 percent of adults diagnosed with ALL achieve a complete remission, which means that leukemia cells can no longer be seen in the bone marrow with a microscope.
People with chronic leukemia can live many years with this disease and successfully manage their symptoms. Talk with your doctor about your treatment goals to find what options are best for you.
Most often, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) will go into remission after the initial treatment. But sometimes it doesn't go away completely, or it comes back (relapses) after a period of remission. If this happens, other treatments can be tried, as long as a person is healthy enough for them.
About 2 out of 3 people with AML who get standard induction chemotherapy (chemo) go into remission. This usually means the bone marrow contains fewer than 5% blast cells, the blood cell counts return to within normal limits, and there are no signs or symptoms of the disease.
Chronic leukemia usually gets worse slowly, over months to years, while acute leukemia develops quickly and progresses over days to weeks. The two main types of leukemia can be further organized into groups that are based on the type of white blood cell that is affected — lymphoid or myeloid.
The slow-growing form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the least serious type of leukemia. It is a disease of older people; the average age at diagnosis is around 71. CLL is a malignancy of mature lymphocytes, which usually grow and divide slowly, resulting in a slowly progressive disease.
Because of advances in diagnosis and treatment of this disease, APL is now considered the most curable form of adult leukemia. Cure rates of 90 percent have been reported from centers specializing in APL treatment.