What you should know about Lymphoma
There are two main classes of lymphoma; Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hodgkin's disease is the original type of lymphoma and was first diagnosed by Thomas Hodgkin in the early 1830s. Since then 30 other forms of the disease have been detected and these constitute the group of diseases known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Both types of lymphoma are essentially the same with regards to symptoms and potential treatment however Hodgkin's disease affects a specific type of cell that the rest of the sub-types don't affect.
Lymphoma is classed as a systemic disease because it is very rarely confined to a single lymph gland for long. The cells that are primarily affected are the lymphocytes and these constantly circulate around the entire body in both the lymphatic system and the blood stream. Often the cancerous lymphocytes congregate in the lymph glands and cause painless swelling that can be manually felt in the neck, armpit area and the groin. Unfortunately however they don't remain in the lymph glands indefinitely and when they spread to other areas of the body it makes treatment that little bit more difficult. Some cases of lymphoma are slow growing and can be present for a year or more before detection whereas other cases are very aggressive and take over the body in a matter of months.
Lymphocytes are cells of the immune system and so as they become cancerous they loose their ability to defend the body against infection and attack from pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. This means that people with lymphoma become more susceptible to minor ailments and as time goes by and the condition worsens it may be that the person is constantly under the weather and suffering with coughs, colds and other viral infections.
Unfortunately lymphoma doesn't cause any noticeable symptoms while it is still in the early stages and so diagnosis often only occurs when the condition passes into the advanced stages. Occasionally the condition is detected by accident while the patient is being tested for something totally unrelated or during a routine check-up. As the condition advances and spreads to other areas of the body certain symptoms become apparent that the majority of people wouldn't normally associate with cancer and so they fail to see the severity of the symptoms. These symptoms include fever, night sweats, abdominal swelling, fatigue and occasionally anaemia. However it should be remembered that these symptoms can also be caused by other relatively minor illnesses and so their presence doesn't automatically equal lymphoma.