Hodgkin's Lymphoma Facts
Lymphoma is cancer that begins in the lymph system—a network of tubes that slowly carries fluid, called lymph, from your tissues to be recycled back into your blood.
Along this network are lymph nodes—small, bean-shaped organs that are located throughout your body in your neck, underarms, groin, and behind your knees. They are also deeper inside your body in your chest, abdomen, and pelvis. The nodes filter lymph and store cells called lymphocytes that mature into cells of the immune system to defend against infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
Cancer is caused when something goes wrong inside the lymphocytes so they don’t mature to completion and don’t die off like they are supposed to, but instead collect and accumulate in the lymph nodes, causing the disease lymphoma.
There are several kinds of lymphocytes:
- B lymphocytes, or B cells: These make antibodies. Antibodies attach to bacteria and to cells infected with a virus so that other immune cells recognize them and know to destroy them.
- T lymphocytes, or T cells: There are many kinds of T cells. They are involved in destroying invaders or tumor cells or in attracting or stimulating other immune cells to do this.
- Natural killer cells: These scout for cells that do not look normal and destroy them.
The lymphatic system includes other parts of your body, too, like the:
- Bone marrow, which makes lymphocytes and where B cells mature
- Spleen, an organ near your stomach that filters and stores blood, destroys old red blood cells, and fights infection
- Thymus, a gland in your neck where T cells mature
Lymphoma occurs when something goes wrong inside lymphocytes, making them divide and multiply out of control. These abnormal cells don’t die when they should according to the normal lymphocyte lifecycle. Instead, they build up in the body. They don’t carry out their normal immune functions.
Hodgkin’s lymphoma is named for the doctor that first recognized it, Dr. Thomas Hodgkin’s. In Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the cancer cells are a particular kind of abnormal B cells called Reed-Sternberg cells. There are several types and subtypes of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Doctors classify them based on the way the cancer cells look under a microscope.
The type and subtype matter because they sometimes help doctors decide which treatments are most likely to be effective.
Most often Hodgkin’s lymphoma starts in the lymph nodes in the upper part of the body, in the neck, chest, or under the arms. It can spread through the lymphatic vessels to other nearby lymph nodes. If the disease progresses further, it can spread outside the lymph nodes to the bone marrow, lungs, or liver.
Most Hodgkin’s lymphomas—about 95 percent—are the type called classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There are four subtypes of classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma: nodular sclerosis, mixed cellularity, lymphocyte rich, and lymphocyte depleted. All of them involve Reed-Sternberg cells. The names of the four subtypes have to do with two factors:
- What’s happening to the lymph nodes. Nodules, or bumps, and fibrous bands form in the lymph nodes in the nodular sclerosis type.
- The kinds of cells are involved along with Reed-Sternberg cells. Other kinds of immune system cells can be present to greater or lesser degrees.
About 5 percent of Hodgkin’s lymphomas are the type called nodular lymphocyte predominant. This type involves a variation of Reed-Sternberg cells. They are sometimes called popcorn cells because of the way they look. This type also involves nodules made up of lymphocytes.
Hodgkin’s lymphoma can be cured or controlled for many years in most people who have the disease. The five-year relative survival rate for Hodgkin’s lymphoma is about 85 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Symptoms, Diagnosis & Risk Factors
Symptoms, diagnosis, and risk factors of Hodgkin's Lymphoma.