A Patient’s Guide to Understanding
Cutaneous Lymphoma
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Prognosis:
The likely outcome of a disease, including the chance of
recovery and survival.
PUVA:
A phototherapy treatment that uses psoralens (P) in combination
with ultraviolet light (UVA). Psoralens make the skin sensitive to the UVA.
It is used to treat various skin disorders.
Radiation field:
The part of the body that receives radiation therapy.
Radiation oncologist:
A physician who specializes in treating cancer with
radiation.
Radiation therapy:
The use of radiation beams (X-rays) to treat a cancer.
High doses of high-energy radiation beams carefully focused on a tumor
will kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy (with or without chemotherapy) is
sometimes used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.
Radioimmunotherapy:
A therapy that is prepared by attaching a
radioactive tag to a monoclonal antibody. Currently in use for B-cell
lymphoma, but not T-cell lymphoma.
Refractory disease:
A cancer that is resistant to treatment.
Regimen:
A specific combination of drugs (chemotherapy), their doses
and their schedules of administration. A regimen may also include
radiotherapy.
Relapse:
The return of cancer after treatment. Lymphoma may recur in
the area where it first started or it may relapse in another area of the skin.
Remission:
The absence of disease. A patient is considered in remission
when their lymphoma has been treated and tumors have diminished by at
least 50% (partial) or have totally disappeared (complete).
Risk factors:
Factors that may increase the chance that a person will
develop a certain kind of disease.
