General principles of treating lymphoma
Except in certain relatively rare situations, surgery is not used to cure cancer but is required to accurately confirm the diagnosis. The general aim when surgery is undertaken in patients suspected of having lymphoma is to do the safest possible procedure to confirm the diagnosis, rather than a procedure that aims to remove all of the lymphoma. This is because the optimal treatment is chemotherapy or radiotherapy and unnecessarily extensive surgery may just delay this treatment. Also, in many cases treatment is not actually needed for many years after the diagnosis has been made.
Treatment is highly individualised, but the possible treatment options may include:
- Chemotherapy alone - most often a variety of chemotherapy drugs are used to maximise the chances of a good outcome.
- Chemotherapy in combination with immune therapy - for example, monoclonal antibody therapy with Mabthera (also called Rituximab or in the USA, Rituxan).
- Chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy
- Experimental therapy - sometimes this is suggested as part of your initial treatment and sometimes only if you suffer a relapse or do not respond optimally to standard treatments
- Radiotherapy only - This is suitable for patients whose lymphoma is localised to only one area and in whom the prospects of spread outside this one area is small.
- "Watching and waiting" - some lymphoma types do not need therapy at the time of diagnosis. This is because these lymphoma types may not cause any problems for many years and treatment will work just as well when used years later if symptoms develop.
The goal of therapy is to maximize the chances you can be cured with the least possible side effects. In some cases, the lymphoma can not be cured, in which case the goal of treatment is prolongation of life or minimising the symptoms from the lymphoma without producing worse symptoms from the treatment. When you undergo treatment, or are discussing treatment options, you should clarify the specific goals in your case and ensure that the goals of your doctor are the same as your goals.