Treatment Plan

Your doctor will recommend a treatment plan, taking into account factors about you as well as the disease. Your age and overall health are considered in addition to the type of Hodgkin's lymphoma and its stage.

There are two basic treatments for Hodgkin's disease: chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Generally, for early stage Hodgkin's disease, when the tumor is only on one side of the diaphragm, radiation therapy is used. More advanced disease is treated with combination chemotherapy and radiation.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. It is usually given over a few hours at an outpatient part of the hospital or clinic. Doctors usually treat only the affected nodes and the areas just around them. This is called involved field radiation and is now the preferred form of radiation therapy. It may be used alone, but it is also done after chemotherapy. Doctors carefully calculate the right dose of radiation to limit any unnecessary radiation. They map out the cancer in your body so that they can aim the beam to hit the cancer and spare other areas.

In teens and children, doctors often try to avoid radiation therapy to protect the child from developing cancer later, fertility problems, and other long-term side effects. Most children with Hodgkin's disease are treated with combination chemotherapy. Some may receive low-dose radiation therapy also.

Chemotherapy is the use of anti-cancer drugs delivered intravenously or by mouth in pill or capsule form. Many different types of chemotherapy may be used for Hodgkin lymphoma. They are most commonly used in combinations. Chemotherapy drugs enter the bloodstream and attack cancer cells throughout the body.

Stem cell transplant is done when the cancer does not respond to treatment or comes back. First, stem cells are collected from the bone marrow, or more commonly, from the blood. Then, high doses of chemotherapy are given. It kills the cancer but at the same time kills your bone marrow. So after the therapy, the stem cells are transplanted back into your body. These specialized cells help your bone marrow recover and produce healthy blood cells.

Sometimes bone marrow or stem cells from another person are used.

More on Hodgkin's Disease

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.