Chemotherapy in elderly lymphoma patients you can do

I am 70 years old. A few months ago, I found that there was a left neck mass. Go to the hospital examination, the doctor confirmed I was suffering from lymphoma, advised me to chemotherapy. I ask, I am very old and suffering from hypertension, do drugs?

Hunan Huang Qi Ming

Huang Qi Ming reader:

Lymphoma is a group originated in the lymph nodes or other lymphoid malignancies, can be divided into Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in two categories. Lymphoma in patients with typical clinical symptoms often appear as painless lymph node enlargement.

In addition, the disease can also occur in patients with liver and spleen enlargement, may occur late in the disease cachexia, fever and anemia and other symptoms. After histological examination, can be found in the lymphocytes and other tumor cell proliferation can occur. Lymphoma treatment methods include chemotherapy, molecular targeted therapy and radiation therapy. Lymphoma is very sensitive to chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy in patients with the disease can be achieved if good results. By standard chemotherapy, more than half of patients with this disease can be cured. However, if treatment is not effective, highly malignant lymphoma patients, the median survival of only a few months.

With age, people suffering from lymphoma will gradually increase the chances, so elderly patients with lymphoma is not uncommon in clinical practice, the incidence rate. Data show that in lymphoma patients, about 50% of people over the age of 65.

The prognosis of elderly lymphoma patients worse than younger patients. This is because the elderly with age, the heart, lung, liver, kidney and digestive function of apparent decline, the tolerance to chemotherapy is also poor. Suffering from heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases of the elderly, conducting anti-tumor therapy adverse reactions will be more severe.

Some doctors worry that elderly patients with lymphoma can not afford chemotherapy, on the use of so-called "conservative therapy." In fact, this will delay the timing of treatment in these patients. Some doctors also adopted a "compromise" approach to reduce chemotherapy for elderly patients with lymphoma when the dose of drugs.

That may ease the symptoms of adverse reactions, but also will effect greatly reduced, or even make them lose their chance of cure. Therefore, how the elderly lymphoma patients without affecting the efficacy of chemotherapy in case of reasonable use of drugs, reduce drug side effects, is the key to the success of disease treatment.

You are also suffering from lymphoma, and hypertension, should be used epirubicin, pirarubicin and other less toxic to the heart anthracycline chemotherapy treatment, if you are suffering from B-cell lymphoma, can be added with molecular targeted therapy drugs, both to improve the curative effect, it will not increase the side effects of drugs.

With advances in medical technology, cancer treatment is no longer as before, "overwhelmed with grief." Many new drugs to the mounting effects of chemotherapy, but also make side effects more and more. Clinically, doctors lymphoma patients based on the specific circumstances, to choose the most appropriate treatment for their program, and will support their active symptomatic treatment (such as control of blood pressure, blood glucose monitoring, preventive use of the gastric mucosal protective agent ) to increase the safety and effectiveness of treatment.