• Disease-free survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Overall survival [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Quality of life as assessed by European Organization of Research for the Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QoLQ) C30 [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Response as assessed by Cheson criteria [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

OBJECTIVES:

• Determine if the addition of low-dose total body irradiation (TBI) to involved-field radiotherapy improves the disease-free survival of patients with previously untreated, stage I or II low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
• Determine the response of patients treated with low-dose TBI.
• Compare the overall survival and quality of life of patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center, stage (I vs II), performance status (0-1 vs 2), lactate dehydrogenase elevation (yes vs no), histological subtype (small lymphocytic lymphoma vs lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma vs follicular lymphoma), and, for stage I patients, presence of measurable mass (yes vs no). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients undergo involved-field radiotherapy daily five days a week for 2.5-4 weeks.
• Arm II: Patients undergo low-dose total body irradiation (TBI) daily 5 days a week on weeks 1 and 4. At 4 weeks after completion of TBI, patients undergo involved-field radiotherapy as in arm I.

Quality of life is assessed before treatment, at 4 weeks after completion of involved-field radiotherapy, every 6 months for 5 years, and then annually thereafter.

Patients are followed every 3 months for 3 years, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 344 patients will be accrued for this study within 6 years.