Lymph cancer, which is commonly called lymphoma, is cancer affecting the lymph nodes, small organs of the immune system that are spread throughout the body. Two different types of lymphoma exist, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which differ in how the cancer spreads to new lymph nodes. The treatments for lymph cancer depend on the degree to which the cancer has spread to new lymph nodes. Cancers affecting a small number of lymph nodes requires less aggressive treatments than those that have spread to many lymph nodes.
Radiation Therapy
The most common treatment for lymphoma that is confined to a small region of the body is radiation therapy, according to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. This type of therapy uses high-energy particles, such as x-rays, to kill the cancer cells. Radiation therapy can employ either external radiation, in which the radiation is generated by a machine outside the body and aimed toward the cancer site, or internal radiation, in which a radioactive material is placed inside the body within a tiny container, explains the National Cancer Institute.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is also sometimes used to treat small, localized cancers, but is more often used to treat more aggressive cancers that have spread to larger areas of the body. In some cases, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are used together. Chemotherapy kills cancer cells using powerful, toxic drugs. Systemic chemotherapy involves taking the drugs orally or injecting them directly into the blood stream, allowing the drugs to spread throughout the entire body. In contrast, regional chemotherapy involves injecting the drugs into a restricted body cavity or organ, limiting the cells affected by the drugs, the National Cancer Institute explains.
Targeted Therapy
A recently developed treatment is targeted therapy, which attempts to specifically destroy cancer cells without affecting nearby healthy cells. One type of targeted therapy is monoclonal antibody therapy, which employs antibodies that recognize chemical signatures on cancer cells. The antibodies may either directly slow the growth of cancer cells, or they may be attached to chemotherapy agents that then kill the cancer cells after being directed to them by the antibodies, reports the National Cancer Institute.
Stem Cell Transplant
Certain highly aggressive cancers that keep returning after therapy may require treatments with high doses of chemotherapy, followed by bone marrow stem cell transplants, MayoClinic.com explains. High-dose chemotherapy is very effective in killing cancer cells, but it also tends to destroy a person's bone marrow cells. To treat this side effect, the patient's bone marrow or blood stem cells are collected before chemotherapy, then transplanted back into the patient to restore the bone marrow.
Vaccine Therpay
A new experimental therapy currently undergoing clinical testing is vaccine therapy. This type of treatment attempts to induce a person's own immune system to attack and kill the cancer cells. Doctors use drugs or other chemicals to boost the immune system or direct it against the cancer cells, explains the National Cancer Institute.
