There are several types of treatment for people with AIDS-related lymphoma. Patients can choose to follow a standard treatment or one tested in a clinical trial. The clinical trial treatment studies the body's reaction when administering new drugs to patients who suffer of cancer. This research study helps scientists to improve the new drugs or helps creating a more effective treatment which will replace the standard treatment.

These trials take place in many clinics from the country. Choosing such a form of treatment implies a decision that regards the patient, its family and the health care team.

A patient that has AIDS ?related lymphoma will be harder to treat that a non AIDS-related due to the weakened immune system. The treatment is made for lymphoma as well for AIDS. In treating AIDS doctors use highly-active antiretroviral therapy because the virus that causes AIDS is a retrovirus. The treatment for lymphoma is made with lower doses of drugs than in the standard procedure because the immune system will be damaged even more in case of administering the doses for a non AIDS related lymphoma patient.

One of the procedures applied on people with cancer is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy tries to stop cancerous cells from growing or dividing. There can be used oral drugs or drugs injected into the vein or muscle that will reach the cancer cells by entering the bloodstream, and is called systemic chemotherapy. Another type of chemotherapy is the regional chemotherapy when the chemotherapy is placed directly into the cancerous area, like: spinal column, an organ or inside the abdomen. The treatment is applied regarding to the cancer's type and evolution stage.

After this type of treatment is done stem cells previously taken from the patient's blood or bone marrow or from a donor will be thawed and replaced through an infusion, in order to restore the body's blood cells destroyed by the chemotherapy.

Another type of cancer therapy is the one based on radiations. For killing the cancer cells, there are two types of radiation therapy used: one is the external therapy meaning that a machine situated near the body will transmit radiation towards the cancerous area; the second method is the internal therapy based on radioactive substance sealed in needles and catheters that will be placed in the sick area of the body. The appliance of the radiation therapy also depends on the cancer's type and evolution.

A new type of treatment which is still tested is the use of monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are made from an immune system cell and are designed to seek and destroy all the substances that can help cancer cells to grow and develop. This treatment seems to be quite effective, but more tests need to be done before its mass use.