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, 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.

Medication Choices

Chemotherapy may be used alone or with radiation therapy. Sometimes a combination of chemotherapy medicines is more effective than a single drug. The most commonly used combination is called CHOP, which combines cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone.

Your doctor will work with you to find the best medicine for your kind of lymphoma.

For more information about medicine treatments for adults, see the following topics:

• Adult Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - Health Professional Information[NCI PDQ]
• Adult Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - Patient Information[NCI PDQ]

For more information about medicine treatments for children and adolescents, see the following topics:

• Childhood Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - Health Professional Information[NCI PDQ]
• Childhood Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma - Patient Information[NCI PDQ]

What To Think About

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 harder 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.