Dr. Tobias Berg, an associate professor and researcher from McMaster University explains maintenance therapy as a treatment option for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the factors that influence the decision to start this type of treatment.

Maintenance therapy is treatment given after the first (primary) therapy used to manage your cancer, or to stop it from coming back. Some people may use maintenance therapy for a long time. This type of therapy can include drugs, vaccines, antibodies, or hormones.

Maintenance therapy can be used after a stem cell transplant for a blood cancer or after your first therapy if a stem cell transplant is not an option or not recommended for you. Maintenance therapy is often given at a low intensity, but over a long period of time. The goal is to help keep you in remission and to prevent relapse (also known as cancer recurrence).

Maintenance therapy has a role to play in some types of blood cancers such as multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Acute means the disease progresses quickly. AML is the most common acute leukemia in adults.

Learn more about AML at:

https://www.bloodcancers.ca/i-have-blood-cancer/leukemia/acute-myeloid-leukemia-aml