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Treating Hodgkin Lymphoma
If you or your child is diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, your cancer care team will discuss treatment options with you. It’s important to think carefully about your choices and weigh the benefits of each treatment option against the possible risks and side effects.
On this page
- How is Hodgkin lymphoma treated?
- Treating Hodgkin lymphoma in children
- Treating Hodgkin lymphoma during pregnancy
- Who treats Hodgkin lymphoma?
- Making treatment decisions
- Help getting through cancer treatment
- Choosing to stop treatment or choosing no treatment at all
- Research into the long-term side effects of Hodgkin lymphoma treatment
How is Hodgkin lymphoma treated?
Chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy are the main treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma. You might get one or more treatments, depending on your situation.
Some people with Hodgkin lymphoma are treated with a stem cell transplant, especially if other treatments don’t work. Surgery is rarely used to treat Hodgkin lymphoma, except for biopsy and staging.
Common treatment approaches for Hodgkin lymphoma
Treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma is based largely on the stage (extent) of the disease. Other factors might also affect your treatment options, including:
- Your age
- Your general health
- The type and location of your lymphoma
For almost everyone with Hodgkin lymphoma, cure is the main goal. Treatment can have side effects, and some side effects don’t show up for many years. Because of this, doctors try to choose a treatment plan with the lowest risk of possible side effects.
Treating Hodgkin lymphoma in children
As with adults, the main goal of treating Hodgkin lymphoma in children is to cure the lymphoma without causing long-term problems. But treatment in children is slightly different from treatment in adults.
The cancer care team will adjust your child’s treatment based on their age, the extent of their lymphoma, how well the lymphoma is responding to treatment, and other factors.
Treating Hodgkin lymphoma during pregnancy
If you are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma while pregnant, your cancer care team will consider:
- The stage of your cancer
- How fast it is growing
- How far along you are in your pregnancy
- Your health and preferences
If you have few or no symptoms, it's usually safest to wait and watch until the second or third trimester before starting treatment.
If your symptoms are severe or your organs are affected, you may be referred to a special medical center. Your options may include:
- Ending the pregnancy and starting treatment right away
- Starting treatment with a single chemo drug called vinblastine, followed by the ABVD chemo regimen after the first trimester
- If you have few or no symptoms, treatment is usually delayed until after the baby is born.
- If your symptoms are serious or your organs are affected, treatment with the ABVD chemo regimen can be considered.
Radiation treatment usually isn’t used during pregnancy. If it’s needed, your cancer care team may wait until the second trimester and take special steps to protect the baby.
Imaging tests like CT scans, x-rays, and PET scans are avoided because they use radiation. Instead, safer tests like MRI and ultrasound can be used.
Who treats Hodgkin lymphoma?
Depending on your treatment options, you might have different types of doctors on your treatment team, including:
- A hematologist-oncologist: a doctor who treats blood disorders, including lymphomas and other cancers
- A radiation oncologist: a doctor who treats cancer with radiation therapy
You might have many other specialists on your treatment team as well, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, nutrition specialists, social workers, and other health professionals.
Making treatment decisions
It’s important to discuss all your treatment options with your cancer care team so you can make the decision that best fits your needs. This includes talking about the goals and possible side effects of each treatment. You may feel like you need to decide quickly, but it’s important to give yourself time to absorb the information you learn.
Ask questions if you are unsure about anything.
Questions to ask before Hodgkin lymphoma treatment
Understanding your diagnosis and choosing a treatment plan
- What are my treatment choices?
- Which do you recommend and why?
- How much experience do you have treating Hodgkin lymphoma?
- Does one type of treatment lessen the chance of the lymphoma coming back more than another?
- How quickly do we need to decide on treatment?
- Should I get a second opinion? How do I do that?
What to expect during treatment
- What should I do to be ready for treatment?
- How long will treatment last?
- What will it be like? Where will it be done?
- How might treatment affect my daily activities? Can I still work full time?
- Can I exercise during treatment? If so, what kind should I do and how often?
- Are there any limits on what I can do?
- How will we know if the treatment is working?
- What are the chances the lymphoma will come back?
- What would we do if this happens?
Side effects and long-term effects
- What are the risks or side effects of this treatment?
- Can I do anything to manage or reduce these side effects?
- Will I still be able to have children after my treatment?
- Should I see a fertility specialist?
- What symptoms or side effects should I tell you about right away?
- How can I reach you on nights, holidays, or weekends?
Support and resources
- What if I don’t have transportation to and from treatment?
- Is there someone I can talk to if I feel overwhelmed, depressed, or distressed?
- What if I need social support during treatment because my family lives far away?
- Who do I talk to if I’m concerned about the costs and insurance coverage for my treatment?
Other things to consider
- Seeking a second opinion: If time allows, consider getting a second opinion. This can give you more information and help you feel more confident about the treatment plan you choose.
- Clinical trials: Clinical trials study new treatments and may offer access to promising options not widely available. They are also how doctors learn better ways to treat cancer. Ask your doctor about clinical trials you may qualify for.
- Complementary and alternative methods: You may hear about herbs, diets, acupuncture, massage, or other ways to relieve your symptoms or treat your cancer. Complementary methods are used with standard care, while alternative ones replace it. Some of these may help with symptoms, but many aren’t proven to work and could even be harmful. Talk with your care team first to make sure they’re safe and won’t interfere with treatment.
Help getting through cancer treatment
Anyone with cancer needs support and information, no matter what stage of their illness. Knowing all your options and finding the resources you need will help you make informed decisions about your care.
Whether you’re thinking about treatment, getting treatment, or not being treated at all, you can still get supportive care to help with pain or other symptoms. It’s important to communicate with your cancer care team so you understand your diagnosis, the recommended treatment, and ways to maintain or improve your quality of life.
Different types of programs and support services may be helpful, and they can be an important part of your care. These might include nursing or social work services, financial aid, nutritional advice, rehab, or spiritual help.
The American Cancer Society also has programs and services to help you get through treatment, including rides to treatment, lodging, and more. Contact the 草莓影视 cancer helpline for more information.
Choosing to stop treatment or choosing no treatment at all
When treatments have been tried and are no longer controlling your cancer, it could be time to weigh the benefits and risks of continuing to try new treatments. Whether or not you continue treatment, there are still things you can do to help maintain or improve your quality of life.
Choosing not to treat your cancer
Some people might not want to be treated at all, especially if the cancer is advanced. There are many reasons you might decide not to get treatment, but it’s important to talk to your cancer care team as you make that decision. Remember that even if you choose not to treat your cancer, you can still get supportive care to help with pain or other symptoms.
Hospice care
People with advanced cancer who are expected to live less than 6 months may want to consider hospice care. Hospice care is designed to provide the best possible quality of life for people near the end of life.
You and your family are encouraged to talk with your cancer care team about hospice care options, which include hospice care at home, a special hospice center, or other health care locations.
Nursing care and special equipment can make staying at home a workable option for many families.
Research into the long-term side effects of Hodgkin lymphoma treatment
Overall cure rates for Hodgkin lymphoma are high, but long-term side effects of treatment are an important issue. Doctors are trying to figure out who can be treated with gentler therapy and who needs stronger treatment. This work includes reasearch into:
Doctors are looking to see if some people, especially children, might do just as well with lower doses of radiation, newer forms of radiation therapy, or no radiation at all.
These newer forms of radiation include intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and proton therapy. They focus more precisely on tumors and limit radiation to nearby normal tissues.
Doctors are researching lower doses of chemo, new chemo drugs, and new drug combinations. Many of these drugs are already used to treat other cancers and have shown promise against Hodgkin lymphoma that has come back (relapsed) after other chemo treatments.
Doctors are also looking for better chemo drugs to use with stem cell transplant, with the goal of improving outcomes while limiting long-term side effects.
Many other types of cancer are already treated with targeted therapy drugs. Researchers are learning a lot about the gene changes found in Hodgkin lymphoma cells. This could lead to drugs that target these changes and spare normal cells.
Some of these drugs are being studied in combinations, in the hope that they might work better together. Many are given along with other cancer treatments, like chemo and/or radiation.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy, which is treatment that helps your body’s immune system find and attack cancer cells. They are given as initial treatment for advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.
Researchers are now studying other ways to use these drugs, including as:
- A first treatment for early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma
- Maintenance therapy to keep the lymphoma from coming back after transplant
- A treatment for children and teens, as well as older people who are too sick to get standard treatment
In this treatment, immune cells called T cells are removed from the patient’s blood and altered in the lab to have receptors called chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs, on their surface. These receptors can attach to proteins on the surface of lymphoma cells. The altered T cells are then multiplied in the lab and put back into the patient’s blood. They can then find the lymphoma cells and launch a precise immune attack against them.
CAR T-cell therapy has shown encouraging results in early clinical trials against some hard-to-treat Hodgkin lymphomas.
Doctors are still improving how they make the T cells and are learning the best ways to use them. CAR T-cell therapy continues to be studied in clinical trials for treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma at this time.
The treatment information given here is not official policy of the American Cancer Society and is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your cancer care team. It is intended to help you and your family make informed decisions, together with your doctor. Your doctor may have reasons for suggesting a treatment plan different from these general treatment options. Don't hesitate to ask your cancer care team any questions you may have about your treatment options.
- Written by
- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Ng AK, van Leeuwen FE. Hodgkin lymphoma: Late effects of treatment and guidelines for surveillance. Semin Hematol. 2016 Jul;53(3):209-15. doi: 10.1053/j.seminhematol.2016.05.008. Epub 2016 May 12.
Shen EY, Tsan DL, Chiang YY, Lin SY. Treatment-related sequelae in Hodgkin's lymphoma after mediastinal irradiation. Int J Hematol. 2022 Mar;115(3):363-370. doi: 10.1007/s12185-021-03264-x. Epub 2021 Nov 24.
van Leeuwen FE, Ng AK. Long-term risk of second malignancy and cardiovascular disease after Hodgkin lymphoma treatment. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2016 Dec 2;2016(1):323-330. doi: 10.1182/asheducation-2016.1.323.
Last Revised: October 6, 2025
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