Leukemia

Leukemia, a group of blood cancers affecting white blood cells, typically starts in bone marrow. When abnormal cells overtake healthy cells, the blood can’t function well. With this condition, you may experience bleeding, bruising, fatigue, fever and increased risk of infection.

That’s why you want to talk to the leukemia and blood cancer specialists at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City.

Nationally Recognized Leukemia Care

At Stephenson Cancer Center, Oklahoma’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center, you’ll collaborate with a nationally renowned, multidisciplinary team of hematology and oncology experts for accurate diagnosis, innovative treatment and effective management of leukemia. In this team-based approach – a critical component of successful leukemia treatment – you receive the guidance of many specialists as you work together to develop an individualized treatment plan tailored to your specific situation.

Types of Leukemia & Blood Cancers We Treat

Find comprehensive care – detection, treatment, research – at Stephenson Cancer Center for the full spectrum of malignant and non-malignant blood-related (hematologic) disorders, including lymphomas and:

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults – Fast-growing abnormal blood cells overtake healthy blood cells
• Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) – Causes bone marrow to produce abnormal white blood cells, red blood cells and/or platelets
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) – Starts in bone marrow and moves into bloodstream; most common adult form of leukemia
• Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) – Rare condition, also known as chronic myeloid leukemia, turns myeloid cells into cancer cells; caused by genetic abnormality

Leukemia Services & Treatments

When you choose Stephenson Cancer Center, you benefit from advanced imaging technology to support the precise diagnosis that helps identify and treat your condition as early as possible.

Personalized Leukemia Treatment

Because the best treatment for you can depend on many factors, from the stage of the disease to the location of a tumor, you and your care team also may take advantage of a variety of leukemia treatments such as:

• Chemotherapy, including intrathecal chemotherapies injected into the spinal canal and experimental therapeutics
• Radiation therapy
• Surgery

Cancer Navigation Services

Throughout your journey at Stephenson Cancer Center, your care team includes a nurse navigator, a specially trained registered nurse (RN) who acts as your personal advocate and adds an extra layer of support. Learn more about cancer navigation services.

Supportive Care Services

You also gain access to extensive supportive care services, such as genetic counseling, nutritional therapy, support groups, palliative care, cancer education workshops, and symptom and pain management. And you’ll find all your cancer-related services in a bright, welcoming, up-to-date facility close to home and designed for your comfort and convenience.

Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program

Your treatment plan through Stephenson Cancer Center may take advantage of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program at OU Health, Oklahoma’s only comprehensive stem cell transplant program offering autologous transplants, allogeneic transplants and cellular therapy for people of all ages.

Receiving stem cell transplants from bone marrow allows you to undergo higher doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. When performed after these standard cancer treatments, bone marrow transplants replenish healthy blood cells and minimize side effects.

Your experienced team of hematology and bone marrow transplant experts at Stephenson Cancer Center perform more than 100 stem cell transplants each year and have completed more than 2,100 transplants since the program began in 1982.

Multidisciplinary Cancer Care Team

From your first contact with Stephenson Cancer Center, you become a vital part of our multidisciplinary team approach that brings you together with cancer specialists, such as medical oncologists, cancer surgeons, pathologists, radiologists and others, to ensure you receive the best care for your particular condition.