Written for the layperson. Radiation therapy given to the neck, chest, and lymph nodes under the arms is called radiation therapy to a mantle field. Radiation therapy given to the mantle field and to the lymph nodes in the upper abdomen, the spleen, and the lymph nodes in the pelvis is called total nodal irradiation. Radiation given to the brain to keep the cancer cells from growing there is called cranial irradiation. Radiation therapy may be used alone or in addition to chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be put into the body by a needle in a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drugs enter the bloodstream, travel through the body, and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. Biological treatment tries to help the body to fight cancer or infections. It uses materials made by the body or made in a laboratory to boost, direct, or restore the body's natural defenses against disease. Bone marrow transplantation and peripheral blood stem cell transplantation are also being tested in clinical trials for certain patients.