Blood cancer is a serious diagnosis that creates havoc in the family. Thankfully, advances in diagnosis and treatment of blood cancer have given new hopes to the patients as well as their families. But getting the benefit of the promising blood cancer treatment is possible only when you are aware of the breakthroughs in this field. Continue reading the article to know about the breakthroughs in blood cancer treatment and increase the survival chances of your loved ones suffering from any type of blood cancer including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

Lymphoma

This is the most common blood cancer type that starts in the cells of the body’s immune system. Hodgkin Lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma are the top main types of this disease with different treatments. HL is treated with chemotherapy and radiation while to treat NHL, doctors go with stem cell therapy and monoclonal antibodies drugs.

Breakthrough in Lymphoma treatment – In 2013 the FDA approved ibrutinib as a treatment for the patients suffering from an aggressive form of NHL. In addition to this, the drug also showed promising results in the treatment of other types of NHL and follicular lymphoma.

Myeloma

Caused by malignant plasma cells, this blood cancer is found in the bone marrow and affects the immune system. This is the least common blood cancer types but still is the deadliest cancer. Thankfully, with the help of new drugs, the survival rate among patients suffering from myeloma has improved over time. Stem cell transplant, chemotherapy and drugs such as bortezomib are the common treatment options used by the doctors for this blood cancer treatment.

Breakthrough in Myeloma treatment: In 2015, three new treatments, including daratumumab (Darzalex), elotuzumab (Empliciti) and Xiaomi (Ninlaro) were approved by the FDA. These treatments activate the immune system of the body to prevent the growth of multiple myeloma cell in the body. These drugs are considered to be more effective for patients with cancer return after one therapy.

Leukaemia

This blood cancer type majorly attacks the white blood cells. But at times it also occurs in red blood cells and in platelets that clot the blood. There are four main types of Leukaemia – acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Advancements in diagnosis and treatment of leukaemia have given new hopes to the patients as well as their family members. The promising treatments have increased by the survival rate of leukaemia by double in the past 50 years.

Breakthroughs in leukaemia treatment: With just a five-year survival rate, AML is considered one of the deadliest blood cancer types. Though there hasn’t been any major development in the treatment of this cancer type, researchers are studying experimental drug and early results are promising.

Some more breakthroughs in blood cancer treatment

Blood tests instead of biopsies

Gone are the days when doctors used to rely on biopsies to track the progress of treatment, which was a painful and invasive process. Now a simple blood test can provide the same result achieved from a time-consuming and painful process.

Genomic profiling of blood cancer

Advanced technologies and procedures like genomics have helped doctors get a better picture of the disease. With the study of genetic material present in DNA, doctors can get detailed and important information about a patient’s biology.

Stem cell transplant

There have been many advancements in stem cell transplant technology for blood cancer treatment. Now doctors can kill patient’s cancer cells with chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. This has also helped doctors give approval to more donors for transplant as the possibility of a relapse of the disease has gone down.

If you hear about blood cancer in any of your loved ones, don’t panic; rather, think of these breakthroughs and look for the reliable doctor for an effective treatment.