Lymphoma: Its types, causes, and treatment options

Lymphoma is a cancer of the body’s defense system, or infection-fighting system called the lymphatic system, which consists of lymphocytes. When they grow abnormally or convert into cancer cells become out of control. These cells are in lymph nodes, bone marrow, and thymus glands.

Moreover, when lymphoid cells turn into cancer cells, they accumulate in lymph nodes (making them swollen) thymus, and bone marrow, making the body susceptible to infections. The disease is then called lymphoma. Due to this patient starts showing symptoms.

Signs and Symptoms of Lymphoma:

The following are the signs and symptoms

• Swollen painless lymph nodes: swollen and painless lymph nodes in the axilla, neck, or groin area appeared due to the accumulation of lymphoid cells in the lymph nodes.
• Fever and night sweats: The cancerous lymphoma cells produce chemicals, and the increased number of lymphocytes causes fever. Another reason for sweating at night is due to hormonal changes, which cause sweating and increase a person’s body temperature.

• Unexplained weight loss: Weight loss is very common because the cancer cells use the body’s energy for their growth and division, and also, at the same time, the person’s body is trying to fight the cancer cells to get rid of them.
• Decreased appetite: Cancer cells release some hormones that cause a feeling of fullness and decrease appetite. In the case of lymphoma, an enlarged spleen may press on the stomach, which can lead to decreased appetite. Sometimes tumors in the stomach and intestine cause decreased appetite.
• Abdominal distention: If the tumor starts growing in the abdomen/belly, it leads to abdominal fullness and distention.
• Dry or itchy skin. This is due to dehydration as the patient’s oral intake decreases due to loss of appetite.
• Dry cough and chest tightness: Furthermore, chest tightness and continuous dry cough may occur if the patient has a large thymus gland.
•  Frequent infections: Frequent urinary, blood, or chest infections due to weakened immunity. Furthermore, a person can catch any type of infection, bacterial, viral, or fungal, very easily from his /her surroundings due to compromised / weak immunity.

   Types of lymphoma:

Lymphoma has the following two types.zx

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL):

Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a type of lymphoma in which the cancerous cells contain Reed-Sternberg cells. Reed-Sternberg cells are abnormally large lymphocytes containing two nuclei. This characteristic of the lymphocytes differentiates the lymphoma from other lymphocytes.

Furthermore, this type of lymphoma occurs mostly in young people. Moreover, the nature of this tumor is very aggressive. So, due to its aggressive nature, it is hard to treat and does not respond well to treatment, and there are more cances that the lymphoma reoccurs after the completion of treatment.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL):

 In non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the lymphocytes contain a single nucleus and are not as large asthose in Hodgkin’s lymphoma.NHL mostly occurs in older people.

Diagnostic Tests for Lymphoma

The following are the diagnostic tests to diagnose the lymphoma.

Patient’s Physical Examination and Medical History:

In physical examination, the patient will have enlarged lymph nodes, which may involve lymph nodes of the head and neck, inguinal, and axillary lymph nodes.

 Lymph node biopsy:

The exact diagnosis of it is done by testing a small piece of the swollen lymph node. Based on the type of cells and changes in the lymphocytes, the diagnosis is made, and the types are differentiated; it is either Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin’s. Furthermore, the lymph nodes are swollen in some other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, so the biopsy gives the exact diagnosis. So, the gold standard test in diagnosing lymphoma is a lymph node biopsy.

CT scan or PET SCAN:

Scanning is done for the severity and staging of the disease. So, that treatment could be planned according to the stage of the disease and involvement of vital organs such as the liver, lungs, brain, and the abdomen. It gives options to the treating physician/ oncologist.

 Bone marrow biopsy:

A bone marrow biopsy is done to rule out the involvement of bone marrow.

Risk Factors:

The Following may be the risk factors for lymphoma

• Unnecessary exposure to radiation or cytotoxic substances could increase the chances of having lymphoma.
• Family History of having blood cancer, or any other kind of cancer.
• According to research, there is a strong relationship between lymphoma and obesity.
• Having a weak immune system.
• Exposure to viral infections such as the Epstein-Barr virus. This virus interferes with the lymphoid cells and alters them into cancerous cells. The Epstein-Barr virus affects a large population due to its nature of being contagious. It usually spreads from person to person through oral contact and the use of used utensils, such as using the same utensils in restaurants. So, proper care should be taken when going to public places for dining.

Treatment and Management :

Chemotherapy: The first treatment choice for lymphoma is chemotherapy for both Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Radiation Therapy: Radiations are administered to kill cancer cells. Radiation can reach body areas where other medicines, like chemotherapy, don’t penetrate. Secondly, the radiation is used in cases where the tumor is larger in size, and if need surgical resection, radiation is given to reduce the size before surgery. This is usually done in case the lymphoma is confined to a specific organ such as the liver, spleen, or stomach. Otherwise, surgery is not recommended in lymphomas.

Targeted therapy: Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells as well as normal cells, but in targeted therapy, the medicine only targets cancer cells and kills them.

Immunotherapy: In this therapy patient’s immune system is boosted by giving a man-made version of the immune system. This is done to kill cancer cells by the patient’s immune system.

Bone Marrow Transplant: After the completion of chemotherapy cycles, the disease status is reassessed by doing PET (Positron Emission Tomography). If the PET scan is cleared patient is offered Autologous Bone Marrow transplantation.

Palliative care: If the disease is not responding to any treatment and the patient is terminally ill, then the oncology physician decides to just manage the symptoms to ease the patient’s suffering and make the patient comfortable.

 Prevalence and survival of disease:  for survival and prevalence data.