BATON ROUGE — Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, also known as CLL, is one of the most common forms of blood cancer in adults.

The way it progresses can vary widely from person to person, meaning creating a treatment plan tailored to each patient’s needs to essential.

“Initially, in most patients, it is asymptomatic. Patients do not feel it and in fact it's mostly diagnosed in a primary care office, doctors visit when the patients go and their white blood cell count is elevated, which triggers the workup and the diagnosis. After that, the patients go on what we call the watch and wait period. Which can stretch from a few months all the way to a few years before they’re required to be treated,” Nakhle Saba at the Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Institute said.

Further genetic testing for a patient diagnosed with CLL revealed high-risk markers, an important discovery that helped shape one patient’s personalized treatment approach.

After learning about her options, Lynne said she ultimately chose to begin a single, targeted treatment.

“I had never imagined that I would have cancer. I was healthy and it was very scary. But what I did, you know, was I just delved into learning more about the disease,” she said.

Roughly half of the people diagnosed with CLL have high-risk genetic markers that can limit the effectiveness of some treatments, like traditional chemotherapy. That’s why choosing the right treatment can make a world of difference.