Lymphoma Treatment

At Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Georgia’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, we utilize the latest molecular and genomic tests to identify the biology of your specific cancer. Your lymphoma medical care team includes hematologists, pathologists, blood cancer experts, radiologists, radiation oncologists, advanced practice providers and oncology nurses, all of whom work closely together to coordinate a plan that specifically targets your cancer. We analyze all aspects of your cancer to determine the most effective treatment to give you the best possible outcome.

Our lymphoma specialists’ goal is to develop a strategy that will treat your cancer with the fewest side effects. Your medical care team at Winship reviews the lymphoma treatment options with you. Once the most effective plan is mapped out, we schedule treatment right away. Depending on your diagnosis, the stage and how your particular cancer developed, lymphoma treatment options may vary.

Chemotherapy

Lymphoma is sensitive to various chemotherapies, so treatment may involve one or a combination of several anticancer drugs that destroy cancer cells. These drugs travel through your bloodstream and can reach nearly all areas of the body. Chemotherapy is also sometimes used with stem cell transplantation.

Targeted Therapy

These are drugs that target the specific changes in lymphoma cells that make them grow out of control. Many of these are oral agents that you can take at home.

Immunotherapy

Many treatments for lymphoma utilize the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer. Winship investigators participate in trials evaluating many types of immunotherapies including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, and others. As a result, we are able to utilize these therapies in the management of your lymphoma when appropriate.

Stem Cell Transplantation

This is also known as a bone marrow transplant. The treatment destroys cancerous bone marrow cells using higher doses of chemotherapy, and in some cases, radiotherapy. Then the diseased bone marrow is replaced with healthy stem cells that help grow new bone marrow. Winship’s Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Center — the largest of its kind in Georgia — has innovated important advances in stem cell transplants and is staffed with nationally renowned experts in blood cancers.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy, high-precision beams — such as X-rays and protons — to kill cancer cells. It can be used as the main treatment for lymphoma when the disease is found early.

With advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapy, you have more options than ever to treat your lymphoma. CAR T-cell immunotherapy is one of those leading-edge developments. This type of immunotherapy uses your own immune system to kill or slow cancer. During treatment, white blood cells are removed from your body and genetically changed to recognize and kill cancer cells. The re-engineered cells are then infused back into your body. This cutting-edge treatment is FDA-approved for only a few diseases — lymphoma is one of them. CAR T-cell therapy has been shown to have a high lymphoma treatment success rate, significantly changing outcomes for patients with aggressive forms of lymphomas.

We're among a select group of facilities in the country with our own CAR T-cell therapy center. CAR T-cell therapy takes your own T-cells, genetically alters them to recognize and kill cancer, then infuses them back into your body to fight the disease. Typically, treatment centers send the T-cells to an outside lab to engineer them. It’s a process that requires time and scheduling. But since Winship has its own lab in which to engineer patient T-cells, you get greater scheduling flexibility, shorter turnaround times and faster treatment.

As Georgia’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Winship researchers are pioneers in advancing lymphoma treatment and lead numerous clinical trials each year. In fact, many of the drugs used to treat lymphoma today came out of clinical trials performed at Winship, which means our patients were some of the first to benefit.

Because lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects patients both young and old, navigating the various complications the disease can bring into a patient’s life requires an expertise that goes beyond simply treating the cancer itself. At Winship, we offer consults with physicians, counselors, psychologists, social workers and support groups that can help with your unique needs — whether it’s preserving fertility to start a family after treatment, attending college during treatment or managing the emotional weight of a lymphoma diagnosis upon retirement. No matter your stage of life, your care team at Winship is by your side.