How Is Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Treated?

This content has been reviewed and approved by

James O. Armitage, MD
The Joe Shapiro Professor of Internal Medicine
Section of Oncology/Hematology
University of Nebraska Medical Center

The treatment for a particular patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma will depend on many characteristics. These include the following:

• The specific type of lymphoma
• Your age, overall health, and medical history
• The extent of disease and your IPI score
• Your tolerance of specific medications
• Your opinion or preference. It is always important to remember who works for whom in the doctor-patient relationship. The physician's responsibility is to explain the situation as clearly as possible and make his or her best recommendation, but in the end to follow your preference.
  
  The actual treatments employed vary widely. There are some patients with less aggressive lymphomas who don't have any symptoms and who need only observation. When this is the treatment decision, it is very important that patients be watched closely because any lymphoma can progress and develop dangerous symptoms.

When initial treatment is determined, there are only a few choices to treat any cancer. These include removing the cancer (surgery), killing the cancer with high energy radiation (radiation therapy), or the use of chemical treatments. The latter might include traditional anticancer drugs, new anticancer drugs, and antibodies that might or might not also deliver radiation.

For most patients, because of the widespread nature of lymphomas, the initial treatment will involve chemical treatments. For younger patients with very poor prognosis lymphomas or those in whom the lymphoma has recurred after the initial treatment, bone marrow transplantation using one's own cells (autologous transplantation) or cells from another person (allogeneic transplantation) might be the best treatment.