Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Hello, my Brother was diagnosed with HIV in March of 2001. They told him he's probably had the virus for 6yrs or more. He's currently on the medication AZT. He has just been diagnosed with having Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin's Disease.
I would like it if you could please send me any information on treatment geared with having AIDS, Chemotherapy as well with any other methods of treatment.
Do you know of any HIV Oncologists and where there located? I would greatly appreciate any information so our family could have a better understanding.
Lisa Capaldini, M.D.
Internal Medicine
Let's start with sorting out the connection (or not!!) between Hodgkin's disease, a type of lymphoma, with HIV. To be honest, the nomenclature is confusing, so here we go!
There are two main types of lymphoma: Hodgkin's disease, and NON-Hodgkin's lymphoma. They are categorized differently based on how they look under the microscope, but more importantly because they have different patterns of spread and respond to different treatments. Hodgkin's disease is especially common in younger men (we don't know why) and is NOT felt to be due to, or caused by, HIV disease. That is, your brother has two separate conditions--HIV, and Hodgkin's disease -- that have coincidentally occurred, like someone has poison oak and diabetes.
With the advent of reliably effective combinations of HIV medications (usually 3 or more drugs), we can know treat Hodgkin's disease aggressively (radiation and/or chemotherapy) and keep the HIV under control. And generally oncologists (cancer doctors) can use the same chemotherapy doses in HIV patients as the do in patients with "only" Hodgkins. That, in turn, means your brother has a very good chance of doing great with his Hodgkin's treatment. And it means it's very important that he be getting good HIV care while his Hodgkin's is being treated.
There is another type of lyphoma, NON-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which IS considered a complication of HIV disease, and which overall, is more unpredictable than Hodgkin's disease.
In San Francisco, where I practice, our oncologists are used to treating people with HIV who have Hodgkin's disease; in some areas of the country oncologists may be less familiar. It's very important that your brother's HIV and oncology doctors work together so that both his conditions are optimally and successfully treated: it's a very achievable goal!!
Best wishes,
Lisa Capaldini
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