Leukemia is a form of blood cancer caused due to an increase in the number of white blood cells in the body. These white blood cells multiply quickly and crowd out the red blood cells and platelets, thereby affecting your overall well-being. Leukemia has many symptoms, such as fatigue, fever, chills, headaches, weight loss, frequent infections, and shortness of breath.

Doctors mostly detect this condition in a routine blood test, even before the symptoms are evident. There are different treatments for leukemia, and your doctor will choose one considering your age and overall health.

1. Chemotherapy
This is one of the main treatments for leukemia. This drug treatment uses chemicals to kill leukemia cells. The number of drugs used in the treatment depends on the type of leukemia you have. The doctor may either inject the selected drugs directly into the vein or give them to you in the form of pills.

2. Targeted therapy
This therapy uses certain drugs to attack the vulnerabilities inside the cancer cells. For instance, if a person has chronic myelogenous leukemia, the doctor may give a particular drug to stop a protein within the cancer cells to treat the condition.

3. Biological therapy
Biological therapy is also known as immunotherapy. In this therapy, your doctor will use treatments to help your immune system identify and kill leukemia cells.

4. Radiation therapy
In radiation therapy, high energy beams or X-rays are used to damage leukemia cells. This therapy also helps stop the growth of these harmful cells in the body.
During the therapy, the radiation is directed to the body parts with many leukemia cells. In certain severe cases, the doctor may use radiation therapy all over the body.

5. Stem cell transplant
This treatment is also known as hematopoietic cell transplant or bone marrow transplant. In this procedure, the diseased bone marrow is replaced with a healthy one. However, this treatment is often done after chemotherapy or radiation therapy. These therapies are used for destroying the diseased bone marrow. After this, you will be given an infusion of blood-forming stem cells to rebuild the destroyed bone marrow.
Your own stem cells may be removed and treated to wipe out the leukemia cells during the treatment. Once the leukemia cells and diseased bone marrow have been destroyed, the stem cells are returned to the body. The stem cells can also be transplanted from a relative or an unrelated donor.

6. Surgery
Surgery may be necessary in some cases. If the spleen is filled with cancer cells and is pushing on the nearby organs, your doctor may remove it.

These are the main treatments for leukemia. In addition to the remedies, supportive care is necessary to relieve the symptoms and the side effects of treatment.