One reason this site was started was to point to relatively current information. If people look at books and other information on lymphoma more than 10 years old they may get the feeling that lymphoma is hard to treat. A book from 30 years ago would frighten even the most hearty person.

The fact is that lymphoma treatments have gotten quite good in the last 30 years with real treatment breakthroughs in the last 10 years (and in the case of some non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, treatments that are just recently been developed). So the operative words are "do not panic".

There are 30 to 35 different types of lymphoma. Treatment and outcome can vary between types.If you are looking for some assistance with treatment options, there is a FREE tool available to help you understand your treatment options and possible side effects.Click here to sign up for FREE. Also a very important factor is the stage or spread of the disease. Often times localized disease is much easier to treat effectively than cancer that has spread to multiple sites in the body. BUT: widespread disease is NOT cause for alarm. To present a case study - the author is a survivor of stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma (with lung and marrow involvement) - about as widespread as it gets. With the standard chemotherapy for this condition, the author achieved a complete remission (cancer gone) in less than 9 months.

Will everyone respond well to treatment - one cannot say, each individual responds differently. Fortunately if one treatment is less effective or ineffective, there often is another treatment (or a third or fourth treatment) that may very well work. This, combined with the new treatments being developed, give a high degree of hope to those diagnosed with lymphoma.

There is a great reason to hope - most lymphomas are highly treatable. You will want to start gathering information on the lymphoma being researched:

• The type of lymphoma (Hodgkin's or Non-Hodgkin's)
• The subtype of lymphoma (5 types of HL, 25+ types of NHL)
• The spread of the disease (staging)
• The health and age of the patient

There may be other factors - ask the medical team, write things down, ask questions. Information is important. A good book to start recording this information is The Cancer Patient's Workbook by Joanie Willis although a dedicated pad of paper may work well too.

Once you have more information on the lymphoma in question, you can read additional literature specific to that condition. The literature, in consultation with the medical team, will give you a better feel for the prognosis for the patient. And you can return to this site and "drill down" once you know more.

 

 

Related Articles

To continue your quest for lymphoma information please see the Main Lymphoma Page.

For those who like charts, you can jump to the pages for incidence (occurrence) of Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in the US population.

 

Books

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas - Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Options by Lorraine Johnson, 1999, Chapter 4: Prognoses

The Patient From Hell by Stephen Schneider, 2005 - If you're going to read only one book on prognosis, this is the one. Schneider is an accomplished author and scientist and his book shows how patients can be advocates for proper treatment.