Introduction

• Treatment for lymphoma differs from patient to patient.
• The regimen used depends on the type of lymphoma, the stage, and whether the disease is aggressive or indolent. The patient’s age and physical status will also influence the type of treatment chosen.
• The methods of treatment used for lymphoma include:

1. 1. Chemotherapy
   2. Radiation therapy
   3. Bone marrow transplant
   4. Biological therapy

• The combination of drugs and therapies used will depend on the type of lymphoma.

Chemotherapy

• This treatment is associated with the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
• This may involve the combination of several drugs.
• It is called a systemic treatment because the drugs travel throughout the body. This means that even those cancer cells that have not yet been found may be killed.
• Patients may receive chemotherapy alone or in combination with radiation therapy.

 Radiation Therapy 

• This treatment uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
• The x-ray beam is being focused to cancerous part with pinpoint accuracy

 
Bone Marrow Transplant 

• One form of chemotherapy, called high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT), uses very high doses of toxic drugs to kill all possible tumor cells.
• Because these high doses also kill most of the bone marrow, patients are then given a bone marrow transplant to restore their ability to make new red and white blood cells.
• Bone marrow may be taken from the patient before chemotherapy begins and given back to the patient after treatment is done.
• This form of treatment is usually reserved for people in whom the lymphoma has relapsed (come back).

Biological Therapy 

• Also called biological response modifier therapy (BRMT). It uses chemicals made by the body's own cells in order to activate the body's defenses against cancer
• Many biological therapies are still experimental, but research is being done to develop and improve them.
• Scientists and doctors hope that they will soon be able to treat most forms of cancer using these therapies, combined with treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
• The different approaches to biological therapy include:

1. 1. Immunotherapy. The monoclonal antibody rituximab (mabthera) has improved the outcome for certain non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This is an example of ‘targeted therapy’ where the drug is delivered to the abnormal lymphoma cells, sparing normal cells, with fewer side effects to the patient.
   2. Angiogenesis inhibitors
   3. Gene therapy

Updated:: 04/04/2019 []