Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Medications

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Medications

Your doctor may prescribe medicines that will affect the growth of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and relieve your symptoms. Treatment depends on:

• The stage of the disease.
• The type of lymphoma. The kind of treatment you have will depend on whether you have B-cell or T-cell lymphoma and whether it is fast-growing or slow-growing.
• The size of the tumor and whether it is greater than . It also matters where the lymphoma is located and what organs are involved.
• Your general health.
• Whether you have had lymphoma in the past (recurrent disease). While lymphoma that has come back (recurred) may be controlled, it often is not curable.

For more information about medication treatments, see the following topics:

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma – Health Professional Information [NCI PDQ]
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - Patient Information [NCI PDQ]

Medication Choices

Chemotherapy often cures aggressive forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Even when cure is not possible, such as with indolent lymphoma, chemotherapy may allow you to live a long time without symptoms. A combination of chemotherapy medicines is generally more effective than a single drug. The most commonly used combination is called CHOP, which combines cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone.

Your doctor may recommend that you try treatment with a medicine known as a monoclonal antibody (such as rituximab). This medicine is used with CHOP for B-cell lymphomas and helps you live a long time without symptoms.⁵

Other medicine combinations include:

• Chlorambucil or fludarabine.
• Cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone (CVP).
• Cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (COPP).
• Fludarabine, mitoxantrone, and dexamethasone (FND).
• Gemcitabine, dexamethasone, cisplatin (GDP).

What To Think About

Depending on the type and the stage of the lymphoma, chemotherapy may be used alone or in combination with radiation therapy.

Sometimes a person may take one chemotherapy combination for several cycles and later switch to a different one if the first treatment combination does not seem to be working.

Chemotherapy causes many side effects. These side effects are usually temporary and go away when treatment is stopped. Your doctor may prescribe medicines to control nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. Older adults may find side effects more difficult to tolerate. Side effects may also cause more problems if you have other diseases, such as diabetes, chronic lung disease, or coronary artery disease. You may not be able to become pregnant or father a child after chemotherapy treatment. Discuss fertility issues with your doctor before starting treatment. Chemotherapy medicines can also cause birth defects. If you are pregnant or wish to father a child, discuss the risk of birth defects with your doctor before using any chemotherapy medicine.

Survival rates have improved as a result of clinical trials. Clinical trials provide evidence about new medicines and treatments that may help people who have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma live longer and have a better quality of life. If you are interested in taking part in a clinical trial, check with your doctor to see if there are any clinical trials available in your area.

Your doctor may use the term "remission" instead of "cure" when talking about the effectiveness of your treatment. Although many people with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are successfully treated, doctors use the term remission because cancer can return. It is important to discuss the possibility of recurrence with your doctor.

Last updated:	April 22, 2008
Author:	Bets Davis, MFA
Reviewed By:	Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine, Douglas A. Stewart, MD - Medical Oncology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC