What is lymphoma?

Lymphoma is a term for various, usually malignant, tumors that arise in the lymph nodes or in other lymphoid tissue. Malignant tumors are cancerous, and metastasize (spread), while benign tumors do not metastasize. Lymphoma encompasses more than 40 related types of cancer that develop from lymphocytes (cells of the immune system). Lymphoma occurs when one of these cells undergoes a transformation into a malignant cell and begins to grow abnormally dividing and forming tumors. The distinctions between types of lymphoma are based on the different characteristics of the cancerous cells.

Lymphoma that is slow-growing is also called low grade or indolent; fast-growing lymphoma is called high-grade or aggressive.

Major risk factors include age (most common in individuals in their 60s), immune system status (lowered immunity may lead to lymphoma development), and a family history of lymphoma (genetics may play a large role in who develops lymphoma).

There are over one million people around the world living with lymphoma. It is estimated that approximately 350,000 new cases of lymphoma are diagnosed worldwide annually.

Leukemia, lymphoma/myeloma, accounts for 8.7% of all cancers diagnosed each year in the United States. Each day approximately 170 Americans are diagnosed with lymphoma.

The two main types or groups of lymphoma in humans are Hodgkin's disease (or Hodgkin's lymphoma) and the non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs). They both produce similar symptoms and differentiation between the two is done using microscopic evaluation of the cancer cells. There are five subtypes of Hodgkin's disease and about 30 subtypes of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with NHLs in the United States annually, and about 7,000 are diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Hodgkin's disease accounts for only one percent of all cancers in the United States, while NHLs represent four percent of all cancers.

The prognosis for lymphomas also depends largely on the type of lymphoma and the grade of lymphoma with which the individual has been diagnosed.

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A lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymph system, which is part of the body's immune system. The two main types of lymphoma are Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Lymphomas are more common in men than in women. In most cases the cause is not known. Symptoms of lymphoma include swelling in one or more groups of lymph nodes, weakness, fever, weight loss and an enlarged liver and spleen.

Depending on the type of lymphoma and whether it is confined to a single group of lymph nodes or affects many lymph nodes, treatment may include radiation therapy, chemotherapy or, in serious cases, a stem cell transplant. Because the disease and its treatment impair the immune system, a person who has lymphoma has an increased risk of dying from infection.