Treatments and outcomes
There are various different treatment options available for indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Your treatment plan will be chosen specifically for you and will depend on:
- The exact type or grade of your NHL
- The stage of your NHL
- Your own personal health and circumstances
- Your personal wishes and needs
Because there are many different types of NHL, and because the treatment can be very specific regarding the points we’ve mentioned, it is extremely important to wait until the results of all the tests are through before your treatment plan is decided on.
What treatment will I get?
Indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) grows slowly, so it is common to not need treatment straight away. This is known as the ‘watch and wait’ approach.
I’ve been told I don’t need any treatment at this stage
If you have early-stage indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), you may receive radiotherapy, in which the affected lymph nodes are treated with beams of radiation.
I’m starting radiotherapy
If you have just been diagnosed with indolent NHL and you are about to receive long-term treatment, you will begin by receiving induction therapy.
The aim of induction therapy is to reduce your symptoms and help you enter remission, which will help you live for as long as possible and delay the time until your next treatment.
For follicular lymphoma, it usually involves a course of several weeks of immunotherapy plus chemotherapy.
I’m starting induction therapy
After induction therapy helped you enter remission from NHL with induction treatment, maintenance therapy can be added to help keep you disease free for as long as possible and further delay the time until your next treatment. This involves regular doses of immunotherapy alone, every few months for up to two years.
Find out more about maintenance therapy
I’m not sure what treatment I’ll be getting
If you’ve just been diagnosed with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), you might still be waiting for the results of some tests before you and your doctor can decide what the best treatment plan is. It’s important that you wait for the results of these tests before deciding on treatment, as they can help determine what the right treatment is for you.
In general, if you have indolent NHL:
- Early-stage patients (with only one or two groups of lymph nodes affected) will get radiotherapy to the affected lymph nodes.
- Advanced-stage patients (with more than two groups of lymph nodes affected) who have no symptoms will go on to ‘watch and wait’. Most patients who are newly diagnosed with indolent NHL will be in this position.
- Advanced-stage patients who are having symptoms will in most cases initially go on to induction treatment with immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
- Continuing the immunotherapy on its own after the initial induction treatment has finished, through what is called a maintenance therapy, is being investigated as a treatment option for newly diagnosed patients in Europe. This treatment pathway is already approved for newly diagnosed patients in some countries such as Canada. In most countries, maintenance therapyis also approved as an option for patients whose symptoms have returned after treatment (relapsed).
What will happen to me after treatment?
Advanced indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is rarely cured. However, treatment can help stop your symptoms coming back, and delay the progression of your NHL for as long as possible.
Usually people with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have long periods of remission, when they have no, or very few, symptoms. During this time, your quality of life can be excellent and you can carry on almost as normal with only a few small changes.
It is important to remember that everyone’s experience of NHL is different. We can give you a good idea of what happens to most people, but your experience of NHL will be individual to you. The best person to talk to about what you can expect is your own doctor or specialist nurse.
Find out more about the outcomes of treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma