Surgery for Childhood Leukemia

Surgery has a very limited role in treating childhood leukemia. Because leukemia cells spread widely throughout the bone marrow and blood, it’s not possible to cure this type of cancer with surgery. Aside from a possible lymph node biopsy, surgery rarely has any role even in diagnosing leukemia, since this is usually done with a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy can usually diagnose leukemia.

Placing a central venous catheter

Often before chemotherapy is about to start, surgery is needed to insert a small plastic tube, called a central venous catheter (CVC) or venous access device (VAD), into a large blood vessel. The end of the tube stays just under the skin or sticks out in the chest area or upper arm.

The CVC is left in place during treatment (often for many months) to give intravenous (IV) drugs such as chemotherapy and to take blood samples. This lowers the number of needle sticks needed during treatment. It’s very important for parents to learn how to care for the catheter to keep it from getting infected.