Lymphomas can be treated in time

• April 27, 2024

When you get sick, what is the first thing you do? Know what you have. A simple fever or a delicate disease, seeks to gather information to determine your current condition. The same with lymphoma, whether you investigate on your own or go to a doctor (although this should always be the case), your goal is to know everything about the disease.

Lymphoma is basically a cancer of the lymphatic system. The system is composed of several nodes or glands located in different places of our body. These glands are connected by vessels, which carry lymphatic fluid or white blood cells that help fight diseases.

Just remember our biology classes to remember that white blood cells help fight bacteria and diseases that enter our body. And because these glands connect with each other, once a lymphoma appears, there is a good chance that cancer cells will spread throughout the body through the lymph vessels.

Unfortunately the lymphoma has no cure, nothing has yet been discovered that can eliminate the disease. However, there are new techniques, medicines and medical procedures that have brought hope for people with this condition.

There are two types of lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The first of them, owes its name to Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866), who was the first to publish an article about the disease. This type of lymphoma is capable of spreading from one lymph node to another. It is also observed that people with Hodgkin's lymphoma have the presence of Reed-Sternberg, which can only be detected with the help of a microscope.

The other type of lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's, is accompanied by fever and weight loss. There are about 16 subtypes that do not fall under the conditions described by Hodgkin's lymphoma.

These subtypes are grouped according to their aggressiveness, which basically means that cancer cells are fast growing. Lymphomas NHL are chronic lymphocytic leukemia / small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL / LLP), Burkitt's lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, diffuse B-cell lymphoma, and immunoblastic lymphoma.

Treatment

The treatment is based on radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Age, sex and stage of cancer development play a role in determining the type of treatment, to which patients will be subjected. Early detection is crucial. Most patients survive, especially if they have been diagnosed during the early stages of lymphoma.

Some of the most common symptoms of lymphomas include painless swelling in the lymph nodes of the neck, armpit, or groin. People with lymphomas may also experience fever, fatigue, weight loss, itching, red spots on the skin, nausea, vomiting and sometimes, abdominal pain.

People with low-grade lymphomas have a very slow growth of cancer cells and will experience very few symptoms. The problem with these lymphomas is that although they respond well to chemotherapy, they often reappear in contrast to high-grade lymphomas. With the latter, the treatment consists of chemotherapy, with or without radiotherapy.

Video Medicine: Austin's Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Treatment (April 2024).