a cancer patient
Photo courtesy of NCI/
Mathews Media Group
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a draft guideline for the diagnosis and management of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
The guideline, which is open for consultation, covers adults and young people who are referred to secondary care with suspected NHL or who have newly diagnosed or relapsed NHL.
It contains recommendations for the management of 6 different NHL subtypes—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, MALT lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, and peripheral T-cell lymphoma.
The guideline considers which method of biopsy is most appropriate, which diagnostic test most suitable, how the stage of disease is best assessed, and what treatment is likely to be most effective.
It also proposes recommendations for how best to support patients who complete their treatment. These include the provision of end-of-treatment summaries to be discussed with the patient and an increase in education on the possible relapse/late side-effects of their treatment.
“This draft guideline is now open for consultation,” said Mark Baker, director of the Centre of Clinical Practice at NICE.
“We want to hear from patients and all those who provide care for people with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the NHS [National Health Service] so that we can produce a guideline which will support everyone who diagnoses, treats, and has to live with this disease.”
The consultation closes on March 11, 2016, with the final guideline expected in the summer.
