• Chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors).
• Bone marrow and peripheral blood transplants - transplants (actually high dose chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy with a "rescue" of the immune system) are being used for certain patients, especially with recurrent disease.
• Immunotherapy is being studied in Hodgkin's treatment including monoclonal antibody therapy (such as rituxan) and vaccine therapy may not be far off.
• Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Chemotherapy for Hodgkin's is described in detail on the Hodgkin's Chemotherapy Page.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) are the use of high doses of chemotherapy with a rescue of the immune system afterwards.  More on the Transplantation Information Page.

Clinical trials are often used for people who are not responsive to conventional treatment or who wish to help researchers test new therapies.  New therapies may include variations on chemotherapy drug combinations or the addition of immunotherapy for example.

Prior to treatment, the doctors may perform additional tests to measure such things as heart function (MUGA) and pulmonary (lung) function (Pulmonary Function Test).  This sets a baseline to determine if lung or heart function is impacted by the treatment.

A list of questions you can use to discuss treatment options.

Several types of therapy may be combined - for example immunotherapy is being studied in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy drugs to make them work better.  Likewise, depending on disease presentation, radiotherapy may be added to chemotherapy.

Further Reading / In-Depth

Books

• Hodgkin's Disease, Peter M. Mauch (Editor), James O. Armitage (Editor), Volker Diehl (Editor), June 1999.
  • Section V: Treatment Principles and Techniques
  • Chapter 21: Principles in Radiation Therapy in Hodgkin's Disease
  • Chapter 22: Principles of Chemotherapy in Hodgkin's Disease
  • Chapter 29: Role of Bone Marrow Transplant in Hodgkin's Disease
     
• Living With Lymphoma, Elizabeth Adler, Oct. 2005
  • Chapter 3: Chemotherapy
  • Chapter 4: Radiation Therapy, Combined Modality Therapy and Surgery
  • Chapter 5: Monoclonal Antibodies and Other Magic Bullet Therapies
  • Chapter 6: Stem Cell Transplants
  • Chapter 7: Unconventional Therapies

Other References

• Paper: Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Biology and Treatment Strategies for Primary, Refractory, and Relapsed Disease, Diehl et al., Hematology 2003 - technical but state of the art information on treatment strategies for various scenarios.
• US National Cancer Institute - Hodgkin's Lymphoma 

Pretreatment Testing

• Pulmonary Function Test: MedlinePlus 
• Interpretation of Pulmonary Function Tests from the Virtual Hospital (more technical)
• MUGA heart scan information from medlinePlus

Radiotherapy

• See the new Radiotherapy / Radiation Therapy pages with information and resources.
• A good article on radiation and Hodgkin's looking at historical uses and newer findings. (new resource)

Chemotherapy

• All Hodgkin's chemotherapy information can now be found on the Hodgkin's Chemotherapy Page.

Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Cell Information

• Bone Marrow / Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant Information Page
• The Hodgkin's High-dose Chemotherapy and Transplant Information page is a great collaboration.

Blood Work

• Information on Blood Counts
• General Information on Blood Tests from NLM

Supportive Care

• Supportive Care Information from NCI

Nutrition

Immunotherapy / Biological Therapies

• Immunotherapy Page 
• Monoclonal Antibody Therapy
• Using the Immune System to Treat Cancer from NCI

Clinical Trials

• See the page on Clinical Trials