Hematologic Malignancies Program

Patient and Family Education

AIDS-Related Lymphoma

Treatment Options

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There are two primary treatment options for patients with AIDS-related lymphoma: chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy - treatment with drugs to kill cancer cells. Most anticancer drugs are injected into a vein (IV) or a muscle; some are given by mouth. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment, meaning that the drugs flow through the bloodstream to nearly every part of the body to kill cancerous cells. It is generally given in cycles; a treatment period is followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period, and so on.

Chemotherapy may be put into the fluid that surrounds the brain through a needle in the brain or back (intrathecal chemotherapy) to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that has spread to the brain.
Radiation Therapy - also called radiotherapy, uses high-energy rays to damage cancer cells and stop them from growing and dividing. It is a local therapy that only affects cancer cells in the treated area. Radiation may come from a machine (external radiation) or from an implant placed directly into or near a tumor (internal radiation). Radiation given to the brain is called cranial irradiation.

Additionally, clinical trials are testing the effect of giving drugs to kill the AIDS virus (antiviral therapy) in addition to treatment of the lymphoma.

Treatment of AIDS-related lymphomas depends on the stage, histology, and grade of the disease, as well as the general health of the patient. A doctor must consider white blood cell count and any other diseases caused by AIDS that the patient had or currently has.

This page was last updated on: October 7, 2009.