A Patient’s Guide to Understanding
Cutaneous Lymphoma
36
Questions To Ask About Treatment
1.
How confident are you in my diagnosis of cutaneous lymphoma? The
less confident your doctor is in the diagnosis, the less risk you should
take with therapies.
2.
What type of cutaneous lymphoma do I have? Patients with mycosis
fungoides should expect a different menu of treatment options than
patients with Sézary syndrome and cutaneous B-cell lymphoma. For
example, topical creams are not effective for Sézary syndrome but may be
perfect for mycosis fungoides.
3.
What stage of cutaneous lymphoma do I have and what is my prognosis?
This question is KEY
. In general, early-stage patients (IA, IB, IIA)
should consider topically-applied medications or ultraviolet light therapy
over pills and IV medications because they are usually very effective, have
fewer side effects, and the prognosis is usually very good. Because more
advanced-stage patients (IIB, III, IV) have a worse prognosis, these
patients may consider taking more risks with therapy choices.
4. What are the short and long-term side effects? How likely are they?
Are they reversible, and how long may they last? These are important
questions that are a major factor in many patients’ decisions.
5.
How inconvenient are the treatment options? (How often? Where?
For how long?). Unfortunately, all treatments create at least some
inconvenience for patients, but each patient will view the details of their
protocol differently as to how it fits into their life.
6. How expensive are the treatment options and how likely is it that my
insurance will pay for them?
Don’t hesitate to ask this question!
Your
clinician may not have an immediate answer, but he or she should help
you find one. There’s no harm in trying the least expensive option if it is
as effective as a more expensive choice.
