Treatment. The main aim of the treatment is to get the blood counts back to normal. If this is achieved and the bone marrow looks healthy under the microscope the cancer is said to be in remission i.e the absence of any detectable cancer cells in the body. Over the past decade's effective treatments for acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been developed, hence survival rates have increased. There are many treatments available for ALL including steroids, chemotherapy, radiation, therapy, stem cell or bone marrow transplants etc www mountsinai org 37. Chemotherapy is the first treatment of choice with a goal of achieving a remission. There are three stages in chemotherapy. A remission induction, B intensification, and C maintenance therapy. A Remission Induction. The major goals are 1 Rapidly kill all the tumor cells and restore normal hematopoiesis, 2 Reduce blast cells in the bone marrow to 5 and eliminate tumor cells from blood, 3 Cause absence of other symptoms of the disease. The following drugs are used in combination steroids like dexamethasone, vincristine, asparaginase etc Hoffbrand et al 2013 38. B Intensification High doses of chemotherapy is helpful in removing the tumor burden.
