Lymphomas

Treatment

Patients with early-stage disease can be treated effectively with radiation therapy or chemotherapy or both. The choice of treatment method depends on the tumor bulk (maximum diameter), age and sex of the patient and the subtype of disease. Physicians usually use combinations of drugs to treat late-stage disease. Patients in any stage of the disease who have a large tumor in the chest are typically treated with combinations of drugs and radiation therapy. Patients in any stage of disease who respond quickly to chemotherapy may not need to receive radiation therapy.

Radiation oncologists generally use external beam radiation therapy to treat lymphomas; the radiation is delivered to the lymphoma from a machine known as a linear accelerator. The 30-minute treatment is usually painless and similar to getting an x-ray exam. Targeted radiotherapy, in which a radioactive atom is attached to an antibody (a type of protein) that homes to the lymphoma, is also sometimes used.

Forms of Lymphoma

This list includes the most common and some rare forms of non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma, and many of the treatment options for these conditions. These treatment options may be a single drug, a variety of drugs used in different combinations or other therapies, such as surgery, radiation therapy or stem cell transplantation.