Treatment of Children with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML)

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is fairly rare, so it has been hard to study which treatment might be best. There is no clear single best chemotherapy treatment for this leukemia. A stem cell transplant is the treatment of choice when possible, as it offers the best chance to cure JMML. About half of the children with JMML who get a stem cell transplant are still free of leukemia after several years. Sometimes, even if the leukemia recurs, a second stem cell transplant can be helpful.

Because JMML is hard to treat with current chemo drugs, taking part in a clinical trial looking at newer drugs may be a good option for children who can’t get a stem cell transplant.

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Caywood EH, Kolb EA. Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. UpToDate. 2018. Accessed at www.uptodate.com/contents/juvenile-myelomonocytic-leukemia on November 29, 2018.

National Cancer Institute. Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia/Other Myeloid Malignancies Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/leukemia/hp/child-aml-treatment-pdq on December 29, 2018.

Last Revised: February 12, 2019

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Treating Childhood Leukemia