Staging and Treatment Guidelines
General Approach for Treating Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is highly specific for each patient and is determined by the classification and includes the following factors:
- Stage
- Grade
- Histologic type (cellular structure)
- Location
- Other factors, such as blood levels of lactate dehydrogenase
Treatment for lymphomas has been primarily dependent on chemotherapy (particularly intensive regimens using several drugs) or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. For advanced or refractory lymphomas and for relapse, patients may undergo bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. New treatments, especially those known as immunotherapies, or biological response modifier (BRM) therapies, are showing promise. Some experts recommend that patients ask their doctors about getting into well-designed clinical trials as early as possible.
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Click the icon to see an illustrated series detailing bone marrow transplant surgery. |
Assessing Treatment Success
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In assessing the success of a clinical trial, experts often refer to the tumor response. A complete response, for example, means that there is no longer any evidence at all of the disease by examination, blood tests, or x-ray studies. It does not necessarily mean, however, that the disease is cured. It may still recur later on.
In judging the success of a treatment for NHL, the most important criteria are overall survival and the duration of time until the disease progresses or the patient dies.
Early Stage Lymphomas (Stage I and Stage II)
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