Hodgkin's Disease : In Depth - Deciding on T...
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Researchers are continually finding new ways to treat Hodgkin's disease. People diagnosed with it now have more hope for a cure than ever before.
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Hodgkin's disease treatments are either local or systemic. Local treatments remove, destroy, or control the cancer cells in a certain area of your body. Radiation therapy is a local treatment. Systemic treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells throughout your entire body. Chemotherapy and stem cell transplant are systemic treatments.
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Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. For this treatment, you will see a medical oncologist. This is a doctor who specializes in using drugs to treat cancer. For Hodgkin's disease, your doctor is likely to give you more than one drug. This is called combination chemotherapy.
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Chemotherapy drugs are designed to attack and kill cells that divide quickly, including lymphoma cells. These drugs can also affect quickly dividing normal cells, such as your hair or blood cells. The side effects of chemotherapy are different for everyone. They depend on these things.
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Radiation uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. For Hodgkin's disease, the radiation comes from a machine that is directed to the outside of your body. This is called external radiation.
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Radiation therapy affects normal cells as well as cancer cells. Side effects of radiation depend on the part of your body being treated. Here are some of the common side effects.
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Radiation therapy can help you in your fight against cancer. Your radiation therapy team will work with you. Together you will set treatment goals, make a plan, and carry out the treatment. To be an active member of this team, ask questions when you don't understand what is happening. And let your team know how you're doing.
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Radiation therapy can help you in your fight against cancer. To feel better, get plenty of rest, exercise, and eat well. This will give your body the extra strength it needs right now. Also, look to family and friends for support and comfort.
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The first step for this treatment is to be treated with high doses of chemotherapy. Your body would normally not be able to handle such high doses because all the bone marrow and many other cells would be destroyed. However, after the high-dose treatments, you are "rescued” by having healthy new stem cells transplanted.
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Most of the short-term side effects of stem cell transplantation are from the high doses of chemotherapy. These should go away as you recover from the transplant. You may also experience a strange taste in your mouth from the preservative used to freeze the stem cells. These are some common side effects listed from most to least common.
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If Hodgkin's disease comes back after treatment, the cancer may still be cured. In many cases, it may respond to other chemotherapy drugs. Your doctor may call this salvage therapy. Your doctor may suggest high-dose chemotherapy, along with peripheral stem cell transplant to improve your long-term prognosis. This is intense and difficult treatment, but it can be very effective. So ask your doctor about all the potential benefits and risks.
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When you have radiation and chemotherapy, you may have long-term side effects. While these are not common, they are significant. For these reasons, you'll need to make sure you keep your follow-up appointments with your doctor. Here are some of the things he or she will be checking you for.
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The prognosis for people diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease before it has spread is very good. These are the facts according to the 2006 Cancer Facts & Figures from the American Cancer Society. The survival rate for people whose doctors find Hodgkin's disease while it's still stage I or II is 90 to 95%. The relative survival rates for all patients combined are as follows.
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