Question For Sqad

[mikey4444]

Morning Sqad !

The son of a good friend of mine has been diagnosed with non hodgkin lymphoma....he is a strapping young man, in his mid 30's.

He has had a long course of Chemo, but now he is about to start a course of radium treatment.

I have researched NHL a bit, but can't really see how a course of Radium would help, after the Chemo. As far as I can tell, the Chemo has been a success.

Any ideas please ?

[bednobs]

I am not squad, but used to be a nurse on a haematology/ bone marrow transplant in it(if that's good enough for you ??)
People often have rt after chemo to help prevent recurrence of the disease.

[Islay]

Of course it should be good enough Bednobs, you actually nurse unlike others!
Hope your friends son improves soon Mikey

[mikey4444]

Thanks Bednobs.....I always thought that the Chemo did the job, and radium was used to treat a small area.

[bednobs]

Its been a while since I was working in it, but its probably part of standard treatment for his sort of NHL or he may be on a trial which would be standard treatment plus something extra to see if the extra bit improves the treatment

[bednobs]

He may well havehad a small amount of affected sites

[mikey4444]

Bednobs....one more question if I may, and it may be difficult for you to answer, with any degree of accuracy, but.......What kind of survival rate does NHL normally have ?

[bednobs]

normally good. it will depend on the type (high grade or low grade) and stage

[mikey4444]

Thanks Bednobs,,,very informative !

[Peter Pedant]

// I have researched NHL a bit, but can't really see how a course of Radium would help, after the Chemo//

well it is lucky you are not his onc isnt it ?
Slaney used to do this full time ( as she has said on here ) and I have had a member of the family wivvit

You do a biopsy and characterise it- most will get R-CHOP first and this has 75% five year survival. stage 1 higher and stage 4 lower.

then you rescan and decide on treatment
he will have had a hot spot somewhere that was zapped with RT

wait and see

If he relapses ( = it comes back) then google the results of the CORAL trial for relapsed lymphoma.
The important thing to realised is that it is not a death sentence

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/survival#heading-Zero