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Emergency Symptoms of Advanced Hodgkin's Disease Include: |
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Sudden high fever
Loss of bladder or bowel control
Loss of strength
Numbness in the arms and legs
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Chemotherapy
The goal of chemotherapy is to treat cancer cells of Hodgkin's disease systemically, throughout the body. There are several combinations of chemotherapy used to treat Hodgkin's disease. Chemotherapy is given in cycles: a treatment period followed by a recovery period. The duration of each treatment cycle differs depending on the protocol. For example, one protocol may require that chemotherapy be given for only two days out of 30. Another regimen may involve giving certain drugs on days one and 14 (in a 30-day cycle), while other drugs are given for 14 consecutive days during the first two weeks or weekly multi-drug programs with different drugs each week.
Side Effects
The side effects associated with chemotherapy differ depending on the individual drugs used in a given combination. In general, side effects are due to chemotherapy's destruction of healthy rapid-turnover cells, not the cancer cells. While many cancer cells are being destroyed or disabled during chemotherapy treatments, healthy hair follicle cells and the cells lining the digestive system as well as bone marrow cells are also affected. This results in such side effects as hair loss, nausea, poor digestion, anemia, low white blood cell count and low platelet count. These side effects wear off. Hair grows back. The digestive tract recovers and bone marrow function is restored. In addition, there are medications to address the nausea, vomiting, anemia and low white blood cell count associated with chemotherapy.
If you have side effects from chemotherapy, ask your doctor about the right treatment for your symptoms.
More on Hodgkin's Disease What Is Chemotherapy?
In the Encyclopedia:
Hodgkin's disease
Mediastinoscopy
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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