Maintenance therapy
What is maintenance therapy?
Once induction therapy for relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is over some patients might be given maintenance therapy. However, this is not general practice everywhere, as the role of maintenance therapy in relapsed aggressive NHL has not yet been established. When it was studied in people with relapsed follicular NHL, maintenance therapy was shown to help people live longer. Similar sized studies in aggressive NHL are yet to be completed, so the question of the role of maintenance in aggressive NHL has not been answered.
The aim of maintenance therapy is to keep you in remission for as long as possible
Maintenance is sometimes also called consolidation therapy. After reducing the lymphoma as much as possible with induction therapy, maintenance therapy is designed to help consolidate responses and extend remission for as long as possible, and further delay the progression of the disease or, maybe, allow for cure.
In maintenance therapy, you continue having doses of immunotherapy after your induction therapy has finished, but with no chemotherapy
Your doctor might prescribe maintenance therapy if the induction therapy for your relapsed disease has worked and you are in remission. Maintenance therapy consists of immunotherapy, given at various schedules that last for between 6 and 24 months. You do not receive any chemotherapy during maintenance treatment. Maintenance therapy can be given to people who either had, or did not have, immunotherapy as part of their induction regimen.
What are the side effects of maintenance therapy?
Like any medicine, maintenance therapy can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them
Many side effects are mild or moderate but some may be serious and require treatment. More rarely, some of these reactions have been fatal. You should discuss the potential effects with your doctor.
Some immunotherapy side effects are experienced only when you are receiving the infusion (usually through a drip) or for a few hours afterwards. The most common immediate side effects are fevers, chills and other flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches, headaches and tiredness. You will normally be given paracetamol and antihistamines to help reduce these effects.
Immunotherapy may increase the risk of infections; your doctor can discuss this risk with you.
Because you are not receiving chemotherapy during maintenance treatment, you will not have any of the side effects that it causes, such as severe sickness and hair loss. However, it is possible that you suffer from side effects from the previous induction therapy also during the period of maintenance therapy. For more detailed information on side effects please read the patient information leaflet provided with your medication.
Read more about immunotherapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Find out about coping with therapy for relapsed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma