HODGKIN DISEASE
TREATMENTS |
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Treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma has
become increasingly effective over the years. The type of treatment
used for Hodgkin's depends on the information obtained by staging,
and may include chemotherapy (treatment with a combination of drugs),
and /or radiotherapy (treatment with x rays which kill cancer cells).
Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy have unfortunate side effects.
Chemotherapy can result in nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and
increased susceptibility to infection. Radiotherapy can cause sore
throat, difficulty swallowing, diarrhea, and growth abnormalities in
children. Both forms of treatment, especially in combination, can
result in sterility (the permanent inability to have offspring), as
well as heart and lung damage.
The most serious negative result of the currently available
treatments for Hodgkin's disease is the possible development in the
future of another form of cancer—often called second malignancy.
These second cancers might be leukemia (cancer of a blood
component), breast cancer, bone cancer, or thyroid cancer. A great
deal of cancer research is devoted to preventing these second
malignancies. |
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| HODGKIN DISEASE RELATED ITEMS |
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