AML Treatment is Given in Phases
- The first phase of AML treatment is called remission induction therapy
- The goal of this phase is to reduce the number of leukemic cells in the blood until they are no longer detectable by standard means
- Doctors will do a bone marrow test and a blood count test at the end of this phase to make sure treatment is working
“Basically, there’s remission induction and then post-remission therapy,” Dr. Stone explains. “Two phases. Remission induction means we give people chemotherapy to take them from where they are at the time of diagnosis with many leukemic cells — often they’re not feeling very well, they may have some of these problems like fatigue, infection and bleeding.”
Read More The goal with giving chemo in the remission induction phase is to reduce the number of leukemic cells (or leukemic burden) by 99% — essentially inducing a remission. “Remission means … a state where we cannot detect the leukemic cells by standard means,” Dr. Stone says. “We do a bone marrow test — looks great. We do blood counts — they’re normal.” The induction therapy phase typically lasts about a month, Dr. Stone says, noting there are seven days of chemotherapy in the beginning — and things like bone marrow and blood count should ideally start getting back to normal about a month after this therapy starts.
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