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- Many forms of supportive therapy can be given to someone with AIDS-related lymphoma undergoing chemotherapy .
- • Medicines to prevent nausea and vomiting should be given routinely. Ondansetron, a new and extremely
- effective antinausea medicine, is given by vein just before the chemotherapy. Ondansetron or other antinausea
- medications should also be given for use on an outpatient basis.
- • G-CSF is an important new medicine that can limit the decrease of normal white blood cells caused by
- chemotherapy. When the level of these normal white blood cells (granulocytes or polys) is lowered by
- chemotherapy, patients are at an increased risk for developing serious, even life-threatening infection. Patients
- can inject themselves with G-CSF under the skin, similar to an insulin injection.
- The G-CSF is begun on the day following chemotherapy and is continued until the white blood cells have
- fully recovered (about 10 days). G-CSF can prevent serious infection, decrease the number of days spent in
- the hospital for infections and decrease the need for antibiotics. G-CSF may be helpful in some, but not all,
- situations in HIV lymphoma.
- • Medication to prevent Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is mandatory during and for at least three
- months after chemotherapy, regardless of the T4 count.
