What is the difference between cll and sll

This identifies any chromosomal abnormalities or specific gene mutations prior to treatment and is important to help your treatment team decide on the most appropriate treatment. People who feel well and do not have any symptoms are usually managed by watch and wait active observation only.

Should symptoms develop, or the person becomes unwell, or large tumours or bone marrow failure occurs, treatment will need to be commenced. Standard Drug Treatment. Treatment for SLL may involve the use of low or high intensity combination chemotherapy, more recently with a targeted therapy such as a monoclonal antibody.

This is commonly known as chemoimmunotherapy. The combination of drugs will depend on your age, stage of disease and risk factors. Your treatment team will consider these things and discuss the best treatment for you. These drugs are given in tablet form, injected under the skin or intravenously.

Targeted therapies. Monoclonal antibodies. They help to trigger cell death by blocking the B-cell receptor signaling that leukemias and lymphomas use to grow and survive. Supportive Care. Supportive care prevents and treats symptoms and side effects. It can also include emotional and social support. This could include blood or platelet transfusions. Blood transfusions are a bag of red blood cells which are slowly given via your vein in a clinic or in an outpatient ward of a hospital.

Richard Furman, M. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia CLL and small lymphocytic lymphoma SLL are cancers of mature lymphocytes, and are thus best described as B-cell lymphomas. The only difference between the two is the location where the cancer primarily occurs.

Historically, when the lymphocyte count is above 5,, the disease is referred to as CLL, otherwise, it is called SLL. In both situations, disease is typically present in all compartments, namely the blood, bone marrow, lymph nodes and spleen.

Often times the first line of treatment is actually no treatment at all. Richard Furman from Weill Cornell Medical College explains; "In the 's large studies were done to see the effectiveness of therapy being administered at the time of a CLL diagnosis versus waiting until the patients demonstrated evidence of active disease.

Since the results showed no benefit to early initiation of treatment, the standard of care became to defer therapy until the patient is showing signs of active disease. This period between diagnosis and treatment came to be known as 'watch and wait. Currently, patients initiate therapy when they meet a set of criteria indicating their disease has become active and symptoms are likely to ensue in the near future.

This criteria include anemia, thrombocytopenia, symptomatic splenomegaly or lymphadenopathy, or other symptoms.

If the patient is over 65 generally he or she will receive bendamustine plus rituximab," Dr. This disease is called small lymphocytic lymphoma SLL and has been considered for almost 2 decades to be the tissue equivalent of CLL. It is suspected that differential expression of chemokine receptors e.

However, there is still a lack of knowledge on the precise biological basis underlying the different clinical presentations of CLL and SLL. It is expected that future studies will shed light on the pathophysiology of both disorders.