After treatment for mantle cell lymphoma

If there is no evidence of lymphoma in your body, you are said to be in complete remission. From here, you may have maintenance therapy. You will also have regular blood tests and follow-up appointments to check:

• your blood counts
• how you are recovering from treatment (physically and mentally)
• if you have any long-term side effects
• if you are showing any signs of the mantle cell lymphoma coming back.

Don’t be afraid to contact your hospital team if you notice any changes in how you feel or are worried about anything. You don’t have to wait until your next follow-up appointment.

Make sure you have up-to-date contact details for your clinical nurse specialist (CNS) or other members of your team and can find them easily.

Most people with mantle cell lymphoma will have a period of remission that can last for months or years, but the lymphoma is likely to return at some point. This is known as a relapse and can happen in the same area of the body or somewhere different.

Sometimes, treatment shrinks the lymphoma by at least half (50%) but does not completely clear it. This is known as a partial remission. Other times, the first treatment does not work at all, which is called a refractory response.

If you relapse, or have a partial or refractory response, you are likely to need further treatment to help put you in remission. This could involve:

• joining a clinical trial
• having a different drug or combination of drugs from your first treatment
• taking targeted therapy drugs such as ibrutinib, bortezomib or lenalidomide
• CAR T-cell therapy
• having a stem cell transplant using cells from a matched donor.

If treatment is unable to put you into remission, your team will focus on providing supportive care. These treatments do not actively treat the cancer but aim to manage any symptoms you have and provide you with the best possible quality of life.