Radiation Therapy for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Radiation therapy is treatment with high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy is usually not part of the main treatment for people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but it is used in certain situations.

• Radiation therapy can be used to treat symptoms caused by swollen internal organs (such as an enlarged spleen) pressing on other organs. For instance, pressure against the stomach may affect appetite. If these symptoms are not improved by chemotherapy, radiation therapy to help shrink the organ is often a good option.
• Radiation therapy can also be useful in treating pain from bone damage caused by leukemia cells growing in the bone marrow.
• Radiation therapy is sometimes given in low doses to the whole body, just before a stem cell transplant (see Stem Cell Transplant for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia).

External beam radiation therapy, in which a machine delivers a beam of radiation to a specific part of the body, is the type of radiation used most often for CLL. Before your treatment starts, the radiation team will take careful measurements to determine the correct angles for aiming the radiation beams and the proper dose of radiation. Radiation therapy is much like getting an x-ray, but the radiation is more intense. The procedure itself is painless. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes, although the setup time − getting you into place for treatment − usually takes longer.

Common short-term side effects of radiation therapy include:

• Skin changes in the treated area, which can vary from mild redness to like a burn
• Fatigue
• Low blood cell counts, increasing the risk of infection
• Nausea and vomiting (which is more common with radiation to the abdomen)
• Diarrhea (which is more common with radiation to the abdomen)

Ask your doctor what side effects you can expect.

You can learn more about radiation treatments in the Radiation Therapy section of our website.