Chemotherapy refers to the treatment done with drugs to kill various cancer cells. Experts call these drugs as cytotoxic drugs, according to which cyto implies cells and toxic implies poison. Chemotherapy performs its functions by poisoning various cancer-based lymphoma calls.
Why Chemotherapy Is Preferable To Cure Lymphoma Cancer?
Chemotherapy is useful in lymphoma treatment, as the treatment is able to kill a majority of lymphoma cells. Even doctors sometimes use this therapy single or combine it with other major treatments, like for instance radiotherapy or targeted therapy. However, the exact treatment associated with chemotherapy procedure depends on different factors, which include the stage and the type of lymphoma.
How Long Is Chemotherapy For Lymphoma?
The duration of chemotherapy treatment depends on different factors, which include specific type and extent of cancer, types of drugs prescribed to patients and expected drugs’ toxicities and the period required to recover from any toxicity.
Most of the chemotherapy schedules i.e. duration and type of chemotherapy treatment is according to clinical trials, which compare them and determine the one benefit and tolerable for patients.
Doctors often give chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma in the form of cycles. This allows attacking cancer cells at most vulnerable times and help normal cells of the human body to get easy recovery from any type of damage. Duration of your chemotherapy treatment is in accordance with three major factors, which include duration of the cycle, cycle time, cycle frequency and numbers of cycles.
Duration of the Treatment Cycle
Chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma may involve only one drug or a combination of two or more than two different types of drugs. Doctors recommend you intake the drug on any single day, many days in a consecutive way or consistently as an inpatient or an outpatient. Chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma in this case may last up to a few minutes, a specified numbers of hours or days depending primary on the selected protocol.
Numbers of Treatment Cycles
Clinical trials and research works are the two major aspects responsible for determining the exact duration of a chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma or numbers of treatment cycles.
When cure is your prime goal, doctors recommend you for adjuvant chemotherapy for lymphoma i.e. therapy post surgery to remove every possible visible cancer and it lasts for about 4 months to 6 months. This type of therapy is common among colon and breast cancer patients. On the other side, in case of non-Hodgkin or Hodgkin lymphoma i.e. testis cancers, chemotherapy treatment period may last for about one year.
- Whenever you have visible disease, your chemotherapy treatment period for lymphoma depends on your response of your disease to the respective therapy. In case your problem disappears completely, chemotherapy will continue for 1 cycle or 2 cycles further to assure further safety.
- In case your disease shrinks but fails to disappear, doctors will continue with the chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma until and unless you tolerate it and the treatment checks the growth of your disease.
- If your disease grows, doctors will stop the chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma immediately. Depending on your health conditions and your wishes, he will prescribe you certain drugs to kill your cancer.
Frequency of the Cycle
Chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma may repeat in patients on monthly, bi-weekly or weekly basis. Cycle in this case indicates your monthly intervals. For instance, doctors classify two bi-weekly sessions of chemotherapy treatment as a single cycle.
Conclusion
To conclude, we should say that chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma and its duration depends on different factors, which include tolerance of patients, extent or growth of the disease, treatment outcomes and similar others.
Also Read:
- Malignant Lymphoma|Types|Symptoms|Risk Factors|Treatment
- Burkitt Lymphoma: Types, Signs, Symptoms, Stages, Treatment, Survival Rate, Prognosis
- MALT Lymphoma: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Diagnosis
- Can Lymphoma Be Completely Cured?
- Can Lymphoma Be Detected In A Blood Test?
- Can Lymphoma Kill You?
- What Is The Main Cause Of Lymphoma?
