Prognosis for follicular lymphoma

• There isn’t a cure for follicular lymphoma yet, but treatment can be effective at managing your symptoms and reducing the number of lymphoma cells in your body.
• Some people will need to have treatment straight away, and others might be able to wait a while – this is known as being on active monitoring. There’s also a chance you may never need treatment.
• Follicular lymphoma might come back after treatment, but it’s usually impossible to say when or if this will happen. If it does, it’s likely you will be able to have more treatment.

Everyone is different and responds to treatment differently, so your hospital team are the best people to ask about your personal prognosis.

What you can expect from the future and what kind of treatment you might need will depend on things like your age and general health, as well as the stage and grade of the follicular lymphoma and which parts of your body are affected.

Some people who are diagnosed with early stage follicular lymphoma might not need any treatment straight away. This is because treatment works best if you wait until it will be most effective.

If this applies to you, you’ll be monitored carefully for any signs of the follicular lymphoma growing or changing. Read our information about active monitoring to find out more – doctors may also refer to this time as “watch and wait”.

If you do need treatment, there are lots of different options available. Find out more about treatment.

Follicular lymphoma is described as a ‘relapsing-remitting’ disease, which means that it never fully goes away and could come back after treatment. Treatment currently can’t cure the lymphoma, but aims to reduce the number of cancer cells in your body to very low levels.

Read more about relapse and find out what to expect from treatment.

It’s impossible to say whether the follicular lymphoma will relapse (come back), or when – everybody is different. Your hospital team knows you best, so ask them if there’s anything you should be aware of about your own prognosis.

It might be helpful to know that most people with follicular lymphoma continue to enjoy a good quality of life. Some people won’t need treatment – or won’t need it straight away – but if you do, the aim will be reduce the amount of lymphoma cells in your body. If treatment doesn't work, or the cancer comes back again in the future, your doctor will talk through your options with you. This may involve having more treatment, or joining a clinical trial. We have more information about clinical trials further down this page.

Worrying about relapse and whether the lymphoma will come back can be difficult to cope with for you and your loved ones. Take a look at our mind and emotions page for tips on how to manage your anxiety, and give us a call if you’re struggling. We’ve also put together some support for family and friends.

Some people want to know about survival rates when they are diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, and others don’t. Survival rates are general statistics based on large groups of people. They can never tell you what will happen for you as an individual, and may lead to you worrying unnecessarily.

Survival rates usually talk about five-year survival, in percentages. This means that the given percentage of people diagnosed with a condition are likely to survive for at least five years. They don’t mean that those people will only live for five years – most people with follicular lymphoma live much longer than that, and many enjoy a normal lifespan. Five years is just a time period doctors use to compare different types of cancers and the success of different treatments.

If you want to know more about survival rates for follicular lymphoma, ask your hospital team. They can also explain how rates may relate to you and your own individual prognosis.

Scientists are researching follicular lymphoma all the time, and may develop a cure in the future. Read more about research into lymphoma and other blood cancers.

Some people with follicular lymphoma also end up joining a clinical trial. Trials usually test new kinds of treatment, or combinations of existing treatments.

You can ask your doctor to look and see if there are any trials that are suitable for you to join, or get in touch with our Clinical Trials Support Service. They can tell you more about trials, and help you find one. You can also fill out a self-referral form and someone from our Clinical Trials team will get back to you with more information.