ABSTRACT
Background Lymphomas represent abnormal proliferations of B or T cells and are currently classified on the basis of the histological appearance into Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). HL is now curable in the majority of patients with modern treatment approaches which usually involve chemotherapy, or in combination with radiotherapy. Radionuclide therapy does not play a part of the established approach, although clinical investigations are ongoing.1 In contrast, impressive clinical progress has been made in the last decade with radiolabeled antibody therapy or radioimmunotherapy (RIT) applied to NHL. Following the recent approval of two radioimmunoconjugates (Zevalin® and Bexxar®) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and the European authorities (Zevalin®), RIT has become established as a new therapeutic modality for NHL. This chapter will thus focus on the scientific background and development of RIT, the current clinical and potential future clinical indications, a review of the efficacy data, and the practicalities of RIT delivery.
