Lymphoma treatment success rate can be better understood by looking at survival rates of the specific cancer. Survival rates are estimates based on large numbers of people, but they will not predict a personal case.
Lymphoma is treated depending on the type and stage of the disease. These treatments include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy drugs, radiation therapy, high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant and surgery. Depending on treatment, different types of doctors will be involved. You may receive treatment from a medical oncologist or hematologist, a radiation oncologist, or a bone marrow transplant doctor.
Clinical trials are also a way of treatment that look at promising new treatments and procedures. They may not be right for everyone, but they often deliver state-of-the-art treatment that may not be accessible unless participated in through a clinical trial. These clinical trials help doctors learn about new methods to treat cancer. Your lymphoma treatment success could be found in a clinical trial.
Lymphoma Treatment Success and Survival Rates
Although there are not treatment success rates for lymphoma, there are 5-year relative survival rates that can help patients understand the data on different extents of cancer types. The National Cancer Institute maintains a SEER database to provide these statistics. This data is recorded by separating cancer stages into localized, regional, and distant. For non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the overall 5-year relative survival rate is 72%. The rate can change based on the stage of the disease and is just a reflection of the stage of cancer when it is first diagnosed.
It is important to know that cancer treatment is continuously being researched and improving over time. With clinical trials, new treatments are being discovered and given to cancer patients. Thus, the 5-year relative survival rates data may not reflect the outlook lymphoma patients have today. The numbers are based on patients that were diagnosed and treated five years earlier.
International Prognostic Index (IPI)
The International Prognostic Index (IPI) helps doctors determine the outlook of lymphomas, because stage of disease is not always as helpful. The index uses different factors including age, stage, location of lymphoma in organs, how well a person is completing daily activities and the blood level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). This system assigns points to help understand if the patient’s cancer prognosis is low risk to high risk.
Resources:
American Cancer Society
American Society of Clinical Oncology
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