| Most of us have heard of leukaemia.
But not many of us know what is a lymphoma. This article is about
the treatment of lymphoma. Generally it is very difficult and
frustrating to treat lymphoma. Most doctors do not know how much
about the treatment of lymphoma. Only one aspect is emphasized
here. That is, lymphoma is commonly under treated. Failure of
treatment of lymphoma is often due to under treatment. This article
is written for doctors and some lymphoma patients only. If you are
not a doctor there is no point reading further.
Lymphoma is generally classified into Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin
lymphoma. The behaviour of lymphoma changes with the age of the
patient. The older patient modulates tumour growth differently.
For example, the concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the
circulation increases with age. As IL-6 stimulates
lymphoproliferation, the prognosis of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL)
worsens with age.
Groshan Fabiola has written a number of good articles on
lymphoma. I agreed with what he said. This article is meant to
re-emphasize what he said for the education of doctors.
The clinical intervention of lymphoma generally uses a wide variety of
immunosuppressant medications and a series of specific cancer
therapies. Patients with lymphoma are often prescribed combination
treatments, receiving carefully established doses of cancer
medications according to age, gender and more important, the type
of lymphoma and its stage of progression. In order to maximize the
potency of the treatment and reduce the risks of relapse, doctors
need to take into consideration all these previously mentioned
proven facts and variables when deciding upon the appropriate dose
of medications.
If wrong dosage are administered, the treatment will either
fail to accomplish its expected action (in case of under-dosage)
or generate severe temporary or even permanent side-effects (in
case of over-dosage). Choosing the most appropriate drugs and
deciding the perfect individual dose for each patient with
lymphoma is a very challenging and time-consuming task for
doctors. However, if this protocol is not followed correctly, the
existing treatment of lymphoma can produce a series of undesired
results.
Recent medical research have revealed that the under-treatment
of lymphoma is a very common phenomenon in hospitals, clinics and
other medical establishments worldwide. Many lymphoma patients
had relapses The cause has been recently identified as due to
under-treatment. Owing to the fact that repeated
treatments often fail to control the progression of lymphoma in
relapsed cases, it is very important to plan the treatment in
great detail. Doctors have to establish the appropriate
dose of medications and decide upon the right duration for a
particular case. Although the doses of
lymphoma medications can be slightly adjusted over the period of
administration, under-treatment of lymphoma should be avoided at
all costs.
According to oncologists, patients who suffer from aggressively
progressing Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) should receive the
specific chemotherapeutic treatment in precise doses and without
delay in order to prevent relapse. Although rapidly progressing
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma is considered to be a severe,
life-threatening disease, the existing forms of treatment and
therapies can successfully reverse the malignant effects of the
lymphoma cancer on the body and slow down the progression rate of
the disease.
Paradoxically, fast progressing Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
subtypes, as well as Hodgkin's Lymphoma are more curable than
slower progressing lymphomas. The phenomenon is partially explained by the
increased drug potency of existing chemotherapy in fighting
against rapidly dividing malignant cells. However, despite the
high curability of these varieties of lymphoma, it is imperative
to prescribe the specific course of treatment in the right doses
in order to obtain the best results. If the treatment is delayed,
prematurely stopped or prescribed in the wrong doses, the risks of
relapse are considerably increased and the afflicted patients
rarely respond to re-treatment.
Recent studies conducted in randomly chosen medical
establishments nationwide have revealed very disturbing facts
regarding the treatment of lymphoma patients: around 50 percent of
patients with highly curable forms of lymphoma cancers receive
considerable dose reductions during chemotherapy. Thus, the
chances of long-term survival for this category of patients are
substantially reduced, despite the curable nature of their
disease. Researchers have stated that it is imperative for
oncologists to avoid under-treatment for patients with curable
forms of lymphoma and that future treatments should be optimized
in order to minimize the risks of relapse.
Doctors must be aggressive in their approach to prevent under
treatment while monitoring the side effects to prevent over dosage
at all times. The initially decided doses of medications should
not be reduced
unless the patients with lymphoma are confronted with severe
side-effects. According to medical researchers, less than 5
percent of all lymphoma cases actually require ulterior changes in
dosage; the other 95 percent of cases should receive the specific
treatment in the same dose until the disease is completely
overcome.
If you have questions related to this article you may e-mail me
at doctor@soontongkiong.com quoting the contents of the article.
About the author
DR SOON is a medical practitioner. He holds four degrees. MBBS
(University of Malaya), MBA (University of East Asia), LLB (Hons)
(University of Wolverhampton), Master of Medicine (Edith Cowan
University
:
Dr SOON is the owner of AskMyVisitor.com and MyScriptDoctor.com
where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information
on
many medical, health and lifestyle topics. |
