Cure: Is it Possible for CLL?

Will the word "cure" be used for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)? John C. Byrd, M.D., says he already uses the term, since many patients with CLL go 15 years or more without recurrences.

Byrd is the D. Warren Brown chair in Leukemia Research in the division of hematology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center —James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and was recently honored by CURE as a 2018 CLL Hero.

He admits that it might be another 15 or so years before we truly know if we're curing the disease, though we already may have the tools and treatments to do so. For patients who may not be able to be indefinitely disease free, new treatments are allowing them to live just as long as they would without CLL, Byrd explained.