Patients with more than 100 CD4 cells, no extranodal disease, no previous opportunistic infections, and good performance status are more likely to have a greater survival rate and potentially be cured of lymphoma. Like other cancers, NHL is treated by a combination of chemotherapies administered in cycles. Unfortunately, no significant difference among response rates of the four treatments was seen. The use of these chemotherapies can also result in numerous side effects and toxicities. Nausea and vomiting can be controlled by Zofran and other drugs.
Chemotherapies can also wreak havoc on a person's white blood cell count.
Prognosis for survival How long an individual with NHL may survive depends on CD4-cell count at the time of diagnosis, prior history of opportunistic infections and the extent of disease. Defining a typical response rate and how long a person will live is difficult, but there are reports of response rates of 50 percent and higher for some treatment regimens, and the length of survival can range from several weeks to years. ACTG 142, one of the most recent lymphoma studies, reported an average survival time of approximately eight months. The problem lies in the fact that while the lymphoma may be completely cleared for a period of time, the typical person with AIDS-related NHL is severely immunosuppressed, may experience other opportunistic infections, or may even experience a recurrence of NHL either at the same site or another part of the body. ACTG 142 also reported that approximately 23 percent of those that had a complete response relapsed on average within approximately 28 weeks.