Treatments for Hodgkin's Disease

Hodgkin's disease is known by a number of names: Hodgkins disease, Hodgkin disease, Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkins lymphoma. It is a type of cancer that originates in the lymph system, which is made up of lymph fluid, lymph nodes and lymph vessels, along with the spleen, thymus, tonsils and bone marrow. Hodgkin's disease affects both children and adults.

Treatment Considerations

• Treatment decisions are based on a number of factors, including the patient's age, medical history, general health and staging of the disease. Staging, which is the determination of the extent of the disease in the lymph system, can be decided through symptom descriptions, lab tests and X-rays. Hodgkin's disease is curable if it is in an early stage.

Available Types of Treatment for Hodgkin's Disease

• Standard treatment of Hodgkin's disease is chemotherapy, radiation or a combination of both. Chemotherapy consists of any of several anti-cancer drugs that can be used in varying combinations, including mechlorethamine, vincristine, prednisone, procarbazine, chlorambucil, vinblastine, doxorubicin, bleomycin, etoposide and others. Radiation focuses beams of high-energy particles, gamma rays or X-rays directly on the cancer cells.

  Treatment for Hodgkin's disease may sometimes include high-dose chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants or peripheral blood stem cell transplants. These methods are usually used for disease that is not responsive to standard treatments or that recurs soon after the initial treatment.

  Bone marrow and stem cell transplants require the patient to stay in isolation while diseased cells are killed off by high-dose chemotherapy and healthy cells obtained from one's own, or a donor's, bone marrow or blood are reintroduced into the body to replace them.

  Patients with Hodgkin's disease may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial conducted at a research hospital that tests new treatment methods.

Treatment Risks

• As with most kinds of standard chemotherapy, there are common unpleasant side effects, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and constipation, hair loss, weight loss or gain and mouth sores, that can usually be controlled with other drugs.

  High-dose chemotherapy drugs can cause more severe side effects and permanent changes in some organs like the liver and kidneys.

  Bone marrow and stem cell transplants bring a high risk of infection due to the temporary suppression of the patient's immune system as well as permanent damage to the heart and other organs.

  Patients who undergo radiation treatment are at increased risk for the development of other cancers.

The Dangers of Unconventional Treatments

• There are other types of treatment for Hodgkin's disease, including "complementary therapy" and "alternative therapy."

  Complementary therapy is used alongside conventional treatment in the belief that it will minimize the side effects of the treatments, relieve the discomfort of the illness or improve the patient's morale. It might include meditation, relaxation techniques, acupuncture or massage therapy.

  Alternative therapy carries risks because it is used instead of, rather than in addition to, conventional treatment. A recommended supplement or vitamin regimen, for example, could not only fail to help the patient, but could cause harm to the body; alternative therapies are difficult or impossible to test for effectiveness, and the time spent pursuing an ineffective alternative treatment allows the cancer to progress further before the patient finally decides to undergo conventional treatment, which may then be more rigorous.

Prognosis

• According to the Mayo Clinic, most cases of Hodgkin's disease are treatable. The five-year survival rate for patients with stage I or stage II disease who undergo treatment is 95 percent. The five-year survival rate for patients with stage III or IV disease is around 60 to 70 percent.