Treatment success More than 95% of new patients are treated well or at least adequately by cladribine or pentostatin. A majority of new patients can expect a disease-free remission time span of about ten years, or sometimes much longer after taking one of these drugs just once. If retreatment is necessary in the future, the drugs are normally effective again, although the average length of remission is somewhat shorter in subsequent treatments. There is also the risk of Shingles, and Peripheral Neuropathy after treatment with cladribine. As with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mutations in the IGHV on<unk> <unk> s are associated with better responses to initial treatments and with prolonged survival. How soon after treatment a patient feels "normal" again depends on several factors, including: * how advanced the disease was at the time of treatment; * the patient's underlying health status; * whether the patient had a "complete response" or only a partial response to the treatment; * whether the patient experienced any of the rare, but serious side effects such as kidney failure; * how aggressive the individual's disease is; * whether the patient is experiencing unusual psychological trauma from the "cancer" diagnosis; and * how the patient perceived his or her pre-treatment energy level and daily functioning. Lifespan With appropriate treatment, the overall projected lifespan for patients is normal or near-normal. In all patients, the first two years after diagnosis have the highest risk for fatal outcome; generally, surviving five years predicts good control of the disease. After five years' clinical remission, patients in the United States with normal blood counts can often qualify for private life insurance with some US companies. Accurately measuring survival for patients with the variant form of the disease <unk> -V) is complicated by the relatively high median age (70 years old) at diagnosis. However,<unk> -V patients routinely survive for more than 10 years, and younger patients can likely expect a long life. Worldwide, approximately 300<unk>  patients per year are expected to die. Some of these patients were diagnosed with<unk>  due to a serious illness that prevented them from receiving initial treatment in time; many others died after living a normal lifespan and experiencing years of good control of the disease. Perhaps as many as five out of six<unk>  patients die from some other cause. Follow-up care Despite decade-long remissions and years of living very normal lives after treatment,<unk>  is officially considered an incurable disease. While survivors of solid tumors are commonly declared to be permanently cured after two, three, or five years, people who have<unk>  are never considered 'cured'. Relapses of<unk>  have happened even after more than twenty years of continuous remission. Patients will require lifelong monitoring and should be aware that the disease can recur even after decades of good health. While most oncologist consider<unk>  to be incurable, there is some evidence that some patients are in fact cured after treatments. Of the original 358-patient cohort treated with cladribine at the Scripps Clinic, 9 of 19 in continuous CR for a median of 16 years were free of<unk>  MRD by flow cytometry and IHC. This suggests that the disease of at least some patients may be cured. People in remission need regular follow-up examinations after their treatment is over. Most physicians insist on seeing patients at least once a year for the rest of the patient's life, and getting blood counts about twice a year. Regular follow-up care ensures that patients are carefully monitored, any changes in health are discussed, and new or recurrent cancer can be detected and treated as soon as possible. Between regularly scheduled appointments, people who have<unk>  should report any health problems, especially viral or bacterial infections, as soon as they appear.<unk>  patients are also at a slightly higher than average risk for developing a second kind of cancer, such as colon cancer or lung cancer, at some point during their lives (including before their<unk>  diagnosis). This appears to relate best to the number of<unk> <unk> s, and not to different forms of treatment. On average, patients might reasonably expect to have as much as double the risk of developing another cancer, with a peak about two years after<unk>  diagnosis and falling steadily after that, assuming that the<unk>  was successfully treated. Aggressive surveillance and prevention efforts are generally warranted, although the lifetime odds of developing a second cancer after<unk>  diagnosis are still less than 50%. There is also a higher risk of developing an autoimmune disease. Polyarteritis nodosa has been associated with underlying<unk>  in certain cases. Autoimmune diseases may also go into remission after treatment of<unk> .
Hairy cell leukemia
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Prolymphocytic leukemia
B-cell leukemia
T-lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma
T-cell leukemia
Large granular lymphocytic leukemia
Leukemoid reaction