A review of the role of radiation therapy in the treatment of non-hodgkin lymphomas.

Until recently, non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been difficult to understand. This was due to a lack of appreciation for histologic types, their sub-classifications, modes of spread, and sites of recurrence.The treatment of choice for stage I-II disease is radiation therapy. The value of irradiating adjacent uninvolved node areas or the more extensive Hodgkin-type mantle or inverted "Y" fields is uncertain.Most patients already have reached stage III or IV when first seen. Stage III cases should be treated by a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. There are protocol studies evaluating the role of chemotherapy alone in stage III disease. The primary treatment of stage IV disease probably should be chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy to involved areas or to residual bulky disease.