People with NHL may also benefit from newer biologic drugs and CAR T-cell therapy.
Stem cell transplants are sometimes needed iflymphoma relapseoccurs.
Not all lymphomas can be cured.
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Of the two main types, HL tends to be the most treatable.
Certain aggressive forms of NHL can also be cured with aggressive chemotherapy.
Many indolent lymphomas may not even require treatment until there are overt signs of disease progression.
The response to treatment can also change over time.
Active Surveillance
Many low-grade lymphomas remain indolent for years.
Chemotherapy is usually prescribed when the disease is systemic, meaning that the cancer has spread throughout the body.
Radiation is a local therapy, which means that it only affects cancer cells in the treated area.
Radiation is often used on its own to treat lymphomas that have not spread.
In other cases, radiation will be combined with chemotherapy.
Radiation treatments are typically given five days a week for several weeks.
The procedure itself is painless and lasts only a few minutes.
Common side effects include fatigue, skin redness, and blistering.
Radiation to the abdomen can cause nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy, also called immune-oncology, refers to treatments that interact with the immune system.
Monoclonal Antibodies
Monoclonal antibodiesare the most common immunotherapeutic agents used in lymphoma therapy.
They are classified asbiologic drugsbecause they occur naturally in the body.
Those used in lymphoma are genetically engineered to recognize specific lymphoma antigens.
Monoclonal antibodies are given by injection.
It is used to treat mantle cell lymphoma after other medications have failed.
Revlimid is taken by mouth on an ongoing basis (25 milligrams once daily).
Xpovio is taken by mouth twice weekly for the treatment of DLBCL.
Common side effects include fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, and increased blood sugar.
They are synthetic versions of naturally occurring cytokines that the body uses to signal immune cells.
It is typically used when a person has relapsed from intermediate- or high-grade lymphoma.
Stem cells have the unique ability to transform into many different types of cells in the body.
When used to treat lymphoma, the transplanted cells will stimulate the production of new blood cells.
By doing so, the body is less likely to reject the stem cells.
Not everyone is eligible for a transplant, particularly those unable to withstand the conditioning process.
Moreover, the procedure does not work for people with tumors that are unresponsive to drugs.
Recovery from a stem cell transplant may take months to years and can permanently affect fertility.
An in-depth consultation with a specialist oncologist is needed to fully weigh the benefits and risks of the procedure.
The T-cells are then genetically engineered in the lab to match a specific bang out of lymphoma.
Tecartus was approved by the FDA in 2020 for adults with relapsed or refractory MCL.
Tecartus is also approved to treat adults with certain types of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
In 2022, it was approved for people with relapsed or refractory DLBCL after one line of systemic therapy.
In 2024, the FDA issued Safety Labeling Changes for these CAR-T therapies.
The warnings inform providers and patients of the potential risk of these therapies causing secondary cancer.
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