Treatment of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL)
Treatment of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL) depends not only on the type, grade and stage but also on age and the overall health condition of the patient.
Sometimes a single method of treatment is employed and in other cases a combination of treatments are employed.
Some of the common methods of NHL treatment are listed below.
I. Chemotherapy- This is a method of treatment which makes use of drugs to kill cancer cells. These drugs may be administered in the following way-
- Â Orally (Through mouth)
- Â Intravenously (Through vein)
- Â Intramuscularly (Into the muscles)
- Â Subcutaneous (Beneath the skin)
- Â Intrathecally (Into the cerebrospinal fluid)
For Slow-Growing NHLs
- Â Chemotherapy using a single nucleoside (e.g., fludarabine phosphate, or cladribine)
- Â Chemotherapy with a single alkylating agent (e.g., Chlorambucil or cyclophosphamide)
For Fast-Growing NHLs
Fast-growing, Stages 1 or 2 NHL is treated with an aggressive combination of the following drugs:
- Â CHOP- Cyclophosphamide, Hydroxydaunomycin, Oncovin, Prednisone;
- Â BACOD, Bleomycin, Adriamycin, Cyclophosphamide, Oncovin, Dexamethasone;
- Â MACOP-B, Methotrexate, Adriamycin, Cyclophosphamide, Oncovin, Prednisone, Bleomycin;
- Â Pro-MACE-CytaBOM- Prednisone, Methotrexate, Adriamycin, Cyclophosphamide, Etoposide, cytarabine, bleomycin, Oncovin
- Â EPOCH, Etoposide, Prednisone, Oncovin, Cyclophosphamide, Halotestin.