Treatment Options by Stage

Stage 0 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Stage I, Stage II, Stage III, and Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

A link to a list of current clinical trials is included for each treatment section. For some types or stages of cancer, there may not be any trials listed. Check with your doctor for clinical trials that are not listed here but may be right for you.

Treatment of stage 0 chronic lymphocytic leukemia is usually watchful waiting.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage 0 chronic lymphocytic leukemia. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Treatment of stage I, stage II, stage III, and stage IV chronic lymphocytic leukemia may include the following:

• Watchful waiting when there are few or no symptoms.
• Monoclonal antibody therapy.
• Chemotherapy with 1 or more drugs, with or without steroids or monoclonal antibody therapy.
• Low-dose external radiation therapy to areas of the body where cancer is found, such as the spleen or lymph nodes.
• A clinical trial of chemotherapy and biologic therapy with stem cell transplant.
• A clinical trial of biologic therapy.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage I chronic lymphocytic leukemia, stage II chronic lymphocytic leukemia, stage III chronic lymphocytic leukemia and stage IV chronic lymphocytic leukemia. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.