You may be relieved to finish treatment, but find it hard not to worry about the leukemia coming back. (When leukemia comes back after treatment, it is called a relapse or recurrence.) This is a very common concern in people who have had leukemia. For other people, the leukemia may not go away completely.

What happens when leukemia returns?

Patients who relapse in their marrow during or just after completing initial treatment may benefit from a stem cell transplant. Patients who relapse six months or more after initial treatment can often be re-treated with more intensive chemotherapy without a transplant. Relapses most often occur in the bone marrow.

What are the chances of beating leukemia twice?

Many centers have reported cure rates of 25-50% for patients with AML transplanted in second remission or early in first relapse. These results are often obtained because patients elected to have their stem cells collected and stored at the time of their initial remission.