by Vittorio Donato
In this tumor that affects the lymphatic system, radiotherapy is fundamental. With current techniques, healthy parts are not irradiated
I am 35 years old and diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The therapy consists of eight sessions of chemotherapy and ten of radiotherapy. I finished the chemo cycle with little discomfort, now I have to face radiotherapy. I would like to know if radio is fundamental in the treatment of this tumor and if ten sessions are adequate.
This is answered by Vittorio Donato, scientific director of the INI Group in Rome (VAI AL FORUM)
Radiotherapy is a treatment that is carried out because it is part of internationally validated clinical protocols and after results obtained and confirmed in a statistically correct way, even after decades. In addition to this general clarification, there are some more stringent and continuously updated protocols in particular fields, for example paediatrics and haematology. In other words, the chemotherapy and radiotherapy schemes are the same whether you carry them out in Cuneo or Messina.
Fundamental treatment
In answer to your question, radiotherapy is fundamental as is chemotherapy, because it is an indissoluble part of a protocol. When I started my profession, the protocols envisaged radiotherapy as a fundamental treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the initial stages, with excellent results. Then, rightly so, the use of this treatment was reduced more and more in order to eliminate the complications that were evident in relation to the large volumes of treatment and a technique that cannot be compared with the current one.
Keep the healthy parts
Ten sessions are not too many or too few and don’t worry about the risk of high doses, because today’s technique allows you to deliver the dose in certain sectors without irradiating the healthy parts. Even at the level of unwanted consequences, the expected dose should not present particular complications. The problem is that radiotherapy is carried out at the end of numerous cycles of chemotherapy which have in some way tested the body: the oncologist radiotherapist who will carry out the treatment will have to monitor the patient during the treatment.
July 27, 2023 (change July 27, 2023 | 09:43 am)
© breaking latest news