Treatment Options

Chemotherapy and radiation are the most common treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma, and they are the treatments that most patients begin with. Depending on your situation, your doctor may suggest several other treatments, including participation in a clinical trial that offers the very latest experimental treatments under study at SCCA’s parent organizations, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and UW Medicine.

 

Lymphoma and its treatment in children can be different than the disease and treatment in adults. If you are concerned about a child who has lymphoma, please visit our section on childhood lymphoma.

 

Your doctor will base your treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma on many factors, including:

 

• The stage of your disease.
• The size of your lymph nodes.
• Whether you have symptoms and what they are.
• Your age.
• Your overall health.

Chemotherapy

Lymphoma is most often treated with chemotherapy. Depending on the type of lymphoma and whether or where it has spread, your doctor may use radiation therapy along with chemotherapy. Anti-cancer drugs, or chemotherapy, for lymphoma are usually given intravenously, though some forms may be taken by mouth. These medicines are distributed throughout the body through the bloodstream. They can help kill cancer cells that are in the lymph system as well as those that may have spread to other areas. Researchers are studying new combinations of chemotherapy drugs in order to find the most effective combinations for different types of the disease.

 

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and reduce the size of tumors. People with lymphoma receive external radiation therapy, in which a machine outside the body delivers a dose of radiation that travels through the outer structures, such as the skin and the skeletal muscles, into deeper areas of the body. For Hodgkin's lymphoma, these are the most common areas where doctors use radiation: lymph nodes in the mantle area (neck, chest and armpits), spleen, or groin.

 

Bone-Marrow Transplant

People whose disease is not cured with initial treatment and who get recurrent lymphoma may also have a bone-marrow transplant in combination with chemotherapy, biologic therapies or other new treatments under study.