Hodgkin lymphoma

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill or control the cancer cells. Your treatment may involve a combination of different chemotherapy drugs, or sometimes it is given with other treatments such as steroids. You may have radiotherapy too. Chemotherapy may be given directly into a vein as an injection and/or through an intravenous infusion (by drip or pump). It may also be given in tablet form. 

Read more about chemotherapy.

Radiotherapy uses high-energy rays to destroy the cancer cells. It’s usually used for early stage lymphoma, sometimes along with chemotherapy. It’s most useful if the Hodgkin lymphoma is only in one part of the body. 

Read more about radiotherapy.

Steroids can help some cancer drugs to work better. They can also help with side-effects, like feeling sick. Usually you will be given steroids for short periods with chemotherapy. Steroids can be administered into a vein (intravenously) or given as tablets. 

Read more about steroids.

Targeted therapies are drugs that target certain parts of cancer cells that make them different from other cells. In other words, they take advantage of differences between normal cells and cancer cells.

They may be used if the disease comes back after treatment or hasn’t responded to treatment. Monoclonal antibodies are the type most often used for Hodgkin lymphoma. An example is brentuximab, which is used to treat disease that is difficult to treat or that has come back (recurred).

Read more about targeted therapies.

For a small number of patients there is a risk of the cancer coming back despite treatment. Others may need more treatment if the first treatment has failed. In this case, high-dose chemotherapy may be given to kill off the lymphoma cells completely. 

However, giving high-dose chemotherapy will also destroy all your healthy blood cells in your bone marrow. By collecting stem cells from your blood or bone marrow before the treatment and returning them to you after treatment, they can grow into new healthy blood cells to replace the ones that were destroyed. 

Read more about stem cell transplants.