Types of treatment for non Hodgkin's lymphoma
This page tells you about treatment for non Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is information about the main types of treatment and how your doctor decides which treatment you need.
Types of treatment for non Hodgkin’s lymphoma
When non Hodgkin's lymphoma is diagnosed a team of doctors and other professionals work together to decide on the best treatment for each person. The main types of treatment for NHL are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapy.
Some people need only one type of treatment and others need more than one. Your doctors need to know several things to be able to decide which treatment you need, including
- The type and grade of NHL you have
- The stage of NHL you have
- Your general health
- Your age
There are many different types of non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Your doctor can tell which type you have by looking at the cells under a microscope. The different types are grouped together depending on whether they tend to be faster or slower growing. This is called the grade of NHL. Non Hodgkin's lymphomas can be low grade, which are slow growing, or high grade, which are faster growing.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the Treating NHL section.
When lymphoma is diagnosed, several doctors and other health professionals work together to decide on the most appropriate treatment. The team of doctors and health professionals is called a multi disciplinary team (MDT). The members of the team specialise in different areas of non Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment and support. The team usually includes the following people.
- An oncologist (a specialist in drug treatment for lymphoma)
- A pathologist (a specialist in cancerous blood cells)
- A transplant specialist
- A radiographer (a specialist in radiotherapy)
- A specialist cancer nurse
- A pharmacist, social worker, psychologist and counsellor
The main types of treatment for NHL are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapy.
Doctors have made a lot of progress in treating non Hodgkin's lymphoma over the past few years. More progress is being made all the time. The number of people that can be cured keeps going up and it is possible to cure people even with advanced disease.
Some people need only one type of treatment and others need a combination of treatments. Your doctors take a number of things into account when deciding which treatment you need, including
- The type and grade of NHL you have
- The stage of NHL you have
- Your general health
- Your age
There are many different types of non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Your doctor can tell which type you have by looking at the cells under a microscope. The different types are grouped together depending on whether they tend to be faster or slower growing. This is called the grade of NHL. Non Hodgkin's lymphomas can be
- Low grade
- High grade
Look at the section about types of non Hodgkin's lymphoma for more information about the different types and grades of NHL.
There are four different stages of non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Your doctor decides which stage you are by finding out if your lymphoma has spread and by asking whether you have any particular symptoms. In practice, doctors put the stages into two main groups to decide on treatment. These are called
- Limited disease or localised disease
- Advanced disease
There is more about staging NHL in this section of CancerHelp UK.
So, your doctor will put you into one of four basic groups to work out the treatment you need
- Low grade with limited disease
- Low grade with advanced disease
- High grade with limited disease
- High grade with advanced disease
These groupings only provide a guide for doctors to follow. Individual treatment decisions can only be taken by your own doctors, who have all the information about you and your circumstances. But we have an outline of the treatment that is likely to be given for each of these groups.
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