Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Treatment

Radiation therapy field
Tufts/Brown

There are treatments for all patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma. The main types of treatment are:

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Chemotherapy for Hodgkin's is described in detail on the Hodgkin's Chemotherapy Page.

Bone marrow and peripheral blood transplants

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) are the use of high doses of chemotherapy with a rescue of the immune system afterwards. More on the Transplantation Information Page.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is being studied in Hodgkin's treatment including monoclonal antibody therapy (such as rituxan) and vaccine therapy may not be far off.

Radiation therapy

Radiation for Hodgkin's treatment usually comes from a machine outside the body (external beam radiation therapy). Radiation therapy given to the neck, chest, and lymph nodes under the arms is called radiation therapy to the mantle field. Radiation therapy given to the mantle field and to the lymph nodes in the upper abdomen, the spleen, and the lymph nodes in the pelvis is called total nodal irradiation. Radiation therapy may be used alone or in addition to chemotherapy. Radiation has been used in early stage disease or in later stages directed at bulky disease (areas where there are large tumors). With the effectiveness of current chemotherapy, radiotherapy may be limited to unresponsive disease or very localized disease. Current medical literature should be examined and talk to your medical team.

Clinical trials are often used for people who are not responsive to conventional treatment or who wish to help researchers test new therapies. New therapies may include variations on chemotherapy drug combinations or the addition of immunotherapy for example.

Prior to treatment, the doctors may perform additional tests to measure such things as heart function (MUGA) and pulmonary (lung) function (Pulmonary Function Test). This sets a baseline to determine if lung or heart function is impacted by the treatment.

A list of questions you can use to discuss treatment options.

Several types of therapy may be combined - for example immunotherapy is being studied in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy drugs to make them work better. Likewise, depending on disease presentation, radiotherapy may be added to chemotherapy.

Dive Deeper

Pretreatment Testing

• Pulmonary Function Test: MedlinePlus
• Interpretation of Pulmonary Function Tests from the Virtual Hospital (more technical)
• MUGA heart scan information from medlinePlus

Radiotherapy

• See the new Radiotherapy / Radiation Therapy pages with information and resources.
• A good article on radiation and Hodgkin's looking at historical uses and newer findings.

Chemotherapy

• All Hodgkin's chemotherapy information can now be found on the Hodgkin's Chemotherapy Page

Lymphedema

• About Lymphedema

Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Cell Information

• Bone Marrow / Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant Information Page
• The Hodgkin's High-dose Chemotherapy and Transplant Information page is a great collaboration.

Blood Work

• Information on Blood Counts
• General Information on Blood Tests from NLM

Supportive Care

• Supportive Care Information from NCI

Nutrition

• NCI information on Nutrition
• Lymphoma patients taking procarbazine should avoid the supplement Melatonin - the Melatonin FAQ concurs with this.

Immunotherapy / Biological Therapies

• Immunotherapy Page
• Monoclonal Antibody Therapy
• Using the Immune System to Treat Cancer from NCI

Clinical Trials

• See the page on Clinical Trials

Related Articles

Further Reading on Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma:

• Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Chemotherapy
• Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Resources
• Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Diagnosis
• Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Introduction
• Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplants

For Information on Childhood Hodgkin's:

• Childhood Hodgkin's Information Pages

Books

• Hodgkin's Disease, Peter M. Mauch (Editor), James O. Armitage (Editor), Volker Diehl (Editor), June 1999.
• Living With Lymphoma, Elizabeth Adler, Oct. 2005