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             "The Treatments of Hodgkin's Disease"
            
             Hodgkin's disease is a form of cancer that effects the lymphatic
            
             system, a part of the immune system that helps fight diseases and infections.
            
             It is a disease with three different types of treatments. The treatments of
            
             Hodgkin's disease are radiation, chemotherapy, and in some cases, a bone
            
             marrow transplant.
            
             When the disease is confined to a certain area of the body, radiation
            
             therapy is the treatment of choice. Radiation therapy is a beam of strong
            
             radiation aimed at the affected area to kill cancer cells. Radiation not only
            
             kills bad cells in the body, it also kills good cells, causing short-term or long-
            
             term effects. Some long-term effects include breast cancer, lung cancer,
            
             thyroid problems, dental problems, and problems with immune system
            
             function. Some short-term side effects include nausea, vomiting, decreased
            
             appetite, dry mouth, redness of skin, sore throat, and hair loss. Of course, the
            
             short-term side effects will go away once the radiation treatment has stopped.
            
             Depending on the stage of the disease, the length of the radiation treatment
            
             varies from four to ten weeks.
            
             The most common treatment for Hodgkin's disease is chemotherapy.
            
             Chemotherapy uses certain chemicals specifically prepared to kill tumor cell.
            
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             The different types of chemicals used to treat Hodgkin's disease are
            
             dacarbazine, vinblanstine, bleomycin, doxorubicin, corticosteriods,
            
             procarbazine, vincristine, and mechlorethamine. Like radiation, chemotherapy
            
             not only kills bad cells in the body, it also kills the good cells, causing short-
            
             term and long-term side effects. Some long-term side effects include heart
            
             damage, secondary cancers, kidney damage, and liver damage. Some short-
            
             term side effects include nausea, vomiting, hair loss, fatigue, and decreased
            
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