Chemotherapy (chemo) is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemo is usually injected into a vein under the skin or taken as a pill. Chemo drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body to reach and destroy cancer cells wherever they may be. 

Chemo is the main treatment for most people with Hodgkin lymphoma. Sometimes chemo is followed by radiation therapy. 

Chemo is given in cycles that include a period of treatment followed by a rest period to give the body time to recover. In general, each cycle lasts for several weeks. 

Most chemo treatments are given in the doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital outpatient department, but some may require a hospital stay.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays (or particles) to destroy cancer cells. It is part of the treatment for most people with Hodgkin lymphoma and is especially useful when Hodgkin lymphoma is only in one part of the body. 

For classic Hodgkin lymphoma, radiation is often given after chemotherapy, especially when there’s a large or bulky tumor mass (usually in the chest). Chemotherapy or radiation alone would probably not cure the lymphoma, but both treatments together usually do. 

Radiation therapy can also be used by itself to treat some cases of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. 

Radiation therapy is often very good at killing HL cells. But over the years as it has become clear that chemotherapy also works very well. Today, doctors tend to use less radiation and lower doses of radiation because of its possible long-lasting side effects.

Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to help someone’s immune system better recognize and destroy cancer cells. It can be used to treat some people with Hodgkin lymphoma.
 

Monoclonal antibodies

Antibodies are proteins made by your immune system to help fight infections. Man-made versions, called monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), can be designed to attack a specific target, such as a substance on the surface of lymphocytes (the cells in which Hodgkin lymphoma starts).