Blood Cancers

Expertise for blood cancer care

Every patient’s situation is unique. Mayo Clinic physicians and other specialists develop an individualized plan for each person.

Collaboration

At Mayo Clinic, hematologists work in collaboration with teams of experts from virtually every medical and surgical specialty for the care of adults and children with blood diseases, including various cancers of the blood and bone marrow, such as leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and related amyloid and myeloid diseases.

Mayo Clinic hematology experts are actively involved in patient care and research in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a comprehensive cancer center. NCI helps fund Mayo Clinic's lymphoma and myeloma research through Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants. Mayo Clinic applies that research to developing more effective and less toxic treatments for lymphoma and myeloma.

Experience

Experts in hematology at Mayo Clinic have experience diagnosing and treating all types of diseases and conditions that affect the blood, including very rare conditions. Each year, more than 30,000 people with blood diseases and 120,000 people with cancer are treated at Mayo Clinic.

Treatment options

Mayo Clinic doctors will work with you to review all of your treatment options and choose the treatment that best suits your needs and goals. At Mayo Clinic, people with blood diseases have access to a full range of treatment options, including standard and experimental treatments.

Depending on the condition, treatment could include:

  • Biological therapy
  • Bone marrow transplant
  • Chemotherapy
  • Radiation therapy
  • Stem cell transplant
  • Targeted therapy

Innovative treatments studied at Mayo Clinic include those that harness the body's immune system, such as virotherapy, which uses an engineered virus, such as measles, to kill multiple myeloma cells; drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors that help the immune system recognize and target lymphoma cells; and a procedure called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. CAR-T cell therapy takes a person's germ-fighting T cells, engineers them to attack cancer cells and infuses the cells back into the body.

Comprehensive cancer center

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center meets the strict standards for a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center, which recognize scientific excellence and a multidisciplinary approach to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for cancer by U.S. News & World Report.

Learn more about blood cancers at Mayo Clinic.