Lymphoma Treatment
MD Anderson¡¯s Lymphoma & Myeloma Center handles more than 35,000 patient visits each year, making it one of the nation¡¯s most active programs in the world. The doctors, nurses and advanced practice providers at the center specialize only in lymphoma and myeloma. Our physicians use this experience to design a treatment plan specifically for you and your disease.
These treatments options include the most advanced therapies, such as proton therapy and CAR T cell therapy. Through our wide range of clinical trials, patients also have access to many treatments that are not available anywhere else.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells, control their growth or relieve disease-related symptoms. Chemotherapy may involve a single drug or a combination of two or more drugs, depending on the type of cancer and how fast it is growing.?
Learn more about chemotherapy.?
Radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy uses powerful, focused beams of energy to kill cancer cells. There are several different radiation therapy techniques. Doctors can use these to accurately target a tumor while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.??
Radiation therapy may be used in early-stage lymphoma or to help symptoms such as pain. It is seldom the only treatment given.
Learn more about radiation therapy.
Proton therapy?
Proton therapy is a type of radiation therapy. It is similar to?traditional radiation therapy, but it uses a different type of energy that may allow doctors to target tumors with much more accuracy. This limits damage to nearby healthy tissue and allows for the delivery of a more powerful dose of radiation.?
Learn more about proton therapy and how it is used to treat lymphoma.
Immunotherapy?
The immune system finds and defends the body from infection and disease.?Cancer is a complex disease that can evade and outsmart the immune system. Immunotherapy improves the immune system¡¯s ability to eliminate cancer.?
Learn more about immunotherapy.?
Lymphoma can be treated with different types of immunotherapy. These include:
Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Immune checkpoint inhibitors stop the immune system from turning off before cancer is completely eliminated. They help cancer-fighting immune cells, called T cells, mount a longer-lasting response against the disease. Learn more about immune checkpoint inhibitors.
CAR T cell therapy: T cells are immune system cells that help the immune system respond to disease and directly kill diseased cells. In Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, T cells are modified so they can recognize and attack cancer cells.?Through clinical trials, CAR T cell therapy is used to treat all different types of lymphoma. It is FDA-approved to treat certain kinds of B-cell lymphoma, a sub-type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Learn more about CAR T cell therapy.?
Immune modulators: Immune modulators modify the environment of tumor cells, making it easier for the immune system to kill cancer.
Targeted therapy?
Targeted therapy drugs are designed to stop or slow the growth or spread of cancer. This happens on a cellular level. Cancer cells need specific molecules (often in the form of proteins) to survive, multiply and spread. These molecules are usually made by the genes that cause cancer, as well as the cells themselves. Targeted therapies are designed to interfere with, or?target, these molecules or the cancer-causing genes that create them.??
Learn more about targeted therapy.
Stem cell transplantation?
A stem cell transplant (also known as a bone marrow transplant) is a procedure that replaces cancerous bone marrow with new, healthy bone marrow stem cells. Depending on the cancer, the healthy stem cells can come from a donor or from the patient. Stem cell transplants are usually given after an intense round of chemotherapy that kills the patient¡¯s existing bone marrow cells. Patients typically must stay in the hospital for three to four weeks after the transplant.?
Stem cell transplants may be used to treat some types of lymphoma.
Learn more about stem cell transplants.
Clinical trials
Clinical trials are a key component of MD Anderson's mission to end cancer. MD Anderson uses clinical trials to find better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Doctors use treatment trials to learn more about how to fight cancer.
Your doctor may offer you a clinical trial as a treatment option.
Learn more about clinical trials.
Active surveillance
This approach involves closely monitoring some types of lymphoma without active treatment. This may be appropriate for some patients with or indolent, or low-grade, lymphomas.
Some types of lymphoma can be passed down from one generation to the next. Genetic counseling may be right for you. Visit our genetic testing page to learn more.
Learn more about lymphoma:
¡®How I knew I had lymphoma¡¯: 6 survivors describe their symptoms
Night sweats, persistent fevers and unexplained weight loss are three of the most common symptoms of lymphoma, whether they stem from Hodgkin lymphoma or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But each one has to meet certain criteria to be considered a possible sign of blood cancer.
In adults, that means:?
- Night sweats must happen repeatedly, not be due to menopause-related hot flashes, and you should be drenched in sweat to the point that you have to get up and change your nightclothes and/or sheets at least once before morning.
- Weight loss must reflect 10% or more of your body weight, though you¡¯re not actively trying to lose it.
- Fever must be persistent, higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and not due to an underlying infection.?
¡°Lymphomas can be divided into two basic categories: aggressive and indolent,¡± explains lymphoma specialist ¡°Aggressive lymphomas grow and spread quickly, and can cause significant damage to tissue and organs. Because they are fast-growing, they are most commonly associated with what¡¯s known as ¡®B¡¯ symptoms. Indolent lymphomas, on the other hand, are slow-growing. They may not cause any symptoms at all, or cause symptoms that come and go over long periods of time.¡±
Here's how six of our patients knew they had lymphoma, in their own words.
Swollen lymph nodes
¡°I went to the doctor about a lump in my throat,¡± says Rob Moss, who was 49 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ¡°It grew and shrank several times. My doctor said it was probably a ¡®thyroglossal duct cyst,¡¯ or a growth on my thyroid. It turned out to be a swollen lymph node.¡±
Weight loss
¡°I lost 20 pounds in a few weeks, was extremely short of breath and was so tired I could barely cross a room without needing to sit down,¡± says Shelby Wade, who was 23 when she was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma. ¡°I was also very hoarse and coughing a lot.¡±
Night sweats
¡°I experienced severe headaches, a consistent dry cough, weight loss and night sweats for about a month,¡± says Omar Dirani, who was 30 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ¡°I thought I was sweating a lot because of all the exercise I was doing.¡±
Cough
¡°I thought I had a cold or the flu,¡± says Jeff Johnson, who was 38 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. ¡°But the cough that came with it never went away. I kept visiting our family physician and trying different medications, but nothing helped.¡±
Pain
¡°I was having back pains on the left side of my kidney area,¡± recalls Ann Sorhouse, who was 49 when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ¡°But I was doing a lot of physical labor, so I attributed it to muscle strain.¡±
Itching
¡°I started having intense itching just a few months after I felt a lump on my collar bone,¡± recalls Mallory Parrish, who was 32 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. ¡°At first, I thought it might be a yeast infection, but an over-the-counter anti-fungal treatment didn¡¯t help.¡±
When to see a doctor about your lymphoma symptoms
Ahmed recommends contacting a physician if your symptoms last more than two weeks without improvement.
¡°The more symptoms you have, the more concerned you should be,¡± she explains. ¡°If you have multiple B symptoms that last more than two weeks, see your doctor right away. If you only have one symptom, but it¡¯s inconsistent, just make your doctor aware of it.¡±
Lymphoma symptoms that you shouldn¡¯t ignore
Some lymphoma symptoms are considered so serious that they warrant an immediate trip to the emergency room. These include:
Spinal cord compression
This can manifest as back pain, leg weakness, bowel or bladder incontinence, vision problems, changes in mental status, or altered sensation in the areas of the leg and buttocks that would typically be in contact with a saddle.
Superior vena cava obstruction
This can appear as difficulty breathing, chest pain, face or neck swelling, or difficulty swallowing. It¡¯s usually due to a mass of clogged lymph nodes in the middle of the chest.
Tumorlysis
Caused by rapidly dying lymphoma cells, this condition can lead to heart arrhythmia, kidney problems and an overall sensation of just not feeling well. If you get blood work done, it may also show you have elevated potassium levels or white blood cell counts.
¡°Roughly 40% to 50% of patients with aggressive lymphomas show symptoms before their diagnosis,¡± notes Ahmed. ¡°But only about 10% or less of patients with indolent lymphoma do.¡±?
Lymphoma symptoms can occur with any type or stage of disease, but they¡¯re more commonly seen in fast-growing lymphomas and when the disease is more advanced. That¡¯s why it¡¯s important to get symptoms checked out quickly.
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