Treatment for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a hematological cancer and affects the lymphatic system. The main division of cancers under this group consists of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hematological cancers affect the immune system of which bone marrow, the blood and the lymphatic symptom are components. Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma type is the more aggressive strain of tumor and can cause death.
A lymphoma is a cancer of the white blood cells, specifically the lymphocytes and rapidly spreads from one node of the lymphatic system to the next. It is treated using a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy but before these are administered, the patient is watched through a serious of transfusions. Typical symptoms include a swelling of the lymph nodes, an enlarged liver and spleen and night sweats. The diagnosis and pronouncement of a case of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is made after a lymph node biopsy which will be accompanied by a CT scan, MRI and X rays. The spread of the disease then determines the stage of the disease. After staging is done, the treatment begins with a chemotherapy regimen.
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer using chemicals. A very complex brew of chemicals is injected into the body for a short span of sessions and they are administered to kill off the tumors. What makes this therapy unique and is also one of its shortcomings is that it targets rapidly growing cells like tumors but it also attacks other cells like hair follicles, red blood cells, and cells of the bone marrow. This leaves the patient susceptible to a host of infections and problems if not shielded properly. Sometimes, the tumors become resistant to the chemicals. When this happens, radiation therapy is used. Radiation therapy uses the same principles as chemotherapy but instead of chemicals, radiation is used to destroy the DNA of the tumor cells. This can happen directly or by way of ionizing the water molecules near the tumor. The water molecules then form hydroxyl radicals that react with and destroy DNA. The drawback of this mechanism lies in the lack of oxygen when dealing with big tumors. When a tumor gets too large it goes into a state of hypoxia, in which not enough oxygen reaches the cells. Radiation requires the presence of oxygen nearby to oxidize the DNA and destroy it. This makes radiation therapy ineffective when dealing with large tumors. Another treatment used is called immunotherapy. In this form of treatment, antibodies are infused into the patient’s system that causes the body to treat the tumor as a foreign body and attack and destroy it. There have been some massive advances in this field and things have reached a stage where even the application of topical creams is used as a medium to promote an immunological response.
