Follicular lymphoma is one of the most common indolent nodal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The follicular lymphoma should be differentiated from other nodal non-germinal centre derived lymphomas. Since bcl-2 gene translocation can be detected in 80-90% of the cases, it could be used for the confirmation of the diagnosis, measure of the treatment efficacy as well as for the evaluation of the prognosis and follow-up of the disease. There is no uniform therapy employed for follicular lymphoma patients. The treatment depends on the histological grade, stage, age and condition of the patients. Since disease cannot be cured by conventional dosage therapy in the vast majority of the cases, a treatment--adjusted to the condition of the patients as well as the stage and grade of the disease--ensuring the longest period and best quality of life should be selected. The authors review the questions of diagnosis and treatment, including the results of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and discuss the role of the interferon-alpha, purine analogues, monoclonal antibodies and high-dose therapy.