Types of treatment for non Hodgkin lymphoma

Men and women discussing non Hodgkin's lymphoma

This page tells you about treatment for non Hodgkin lymphoma. You can find the following information

A quick guide to what's on this page
Your treatment team
Types of treatment
How your doctor decides on your treatment
Type of NHL
The stage of NHL

Types of treatment for non Hodgkin lymphoma

When non Hodgkin lymphoma is diagnosed a team of doctors and other professionals work together to decide on the best treatment for each person. The main types of treatment for NHL are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapy.

Some people need only one type of treatment and others need more than one. Your doctors need to know several things to be able to decide which treatment you need, including

The type and grade of NHL you have
The stage of NHL you have
Your general health
Your age

There are many different types of non Hodgkin lymphoma. Your doctor can tell which type you have by looking at the cells under a microscope. The different types are grouped together depending on whether they tend to be faster or slower growing. This is called the grade of NHL. Non Hodgkin lymphomas can be low grade (indolent), which are slow growing, or high grade (aggressive), which are faster growing.

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When lymphoma is diagnosed, several doctors and other health professionals work together to decide on the most appropriate treatment. The team of doctors and health professionals is called a multi disciplinary team (MDT). The members of the team specialise in different areas of non Hodgkin lymphoma treatment and support. The team usually includes the following people

Haematologist (a specialist in drug treatment for lymphoma)
Specialist cancer nurse (also called clinical nurse specialist)
Pathologist
Transplant specialist
Radiotherapy specialist (clinical oncologist)
Pharmacist, social worker, psychologist and counsellor

The main types of treatment for NHL are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapy.

Doctors have made a lot of progress in treating non Hodgkin lymphoma over the past few years. More progress is being made all the time. The number of people that can be cured keeps going up and it is possible to cure people even with advanced disease.

Some people need only one type of treatment and others need a combination of treatments. Your doctor takes a number of things into account when deciding which treatment you need, including

The type and grade of NHL you have
The stage of NHL you have
Your general health
Your age

Low grade (also called indolent)
High grade (also called aggressive)

Look at the section about types of non Hodgkin lymphoma for more information about the different types and grades of NHL.

There are 4 different stages of non Hodgkin lymphoma. Your doctor decides which stage you are by finding out if your lymphoma has spread and by asking whether you have any particular symptoms. In practice, doctors put the stages into 2 main groups to decide on treatment. These are called

Limited disease or localised disease
Advanced disease

There is more about staging NHL in this section.

So, your doctor will put you into one of four basic groups to work out the treatment you need

Low grade with limited disease
Low grade with advanced disease
High grade with limited disease
High grade with advanced disease

These groupings only provide a guide for doctors to follow. Individual treatment decisions can only be made by your own doctors, who have all the information about you and your circumstances. But we have an outline of the treatment that you are likely to have for each of these groups.

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