Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

(noun)

The non-Hodgkin lymphomas are a diverse group of blood cancers that include any kind of lymphoma, except cancers originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes.

Related Terms

Examples of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the following topics:

  • Burkitt's Lymphoma

    • Burkitt's lymphoma is a very fast growing form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer in the lymphatic system.
    • Burkitt's lymphoma is a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system (in particular, B lymphocytes).
    • Burkitt's lymphoma involves B-cells and is a rapidly growing cancer.
    • Currently Burkitt's lymphoma can be divided into three main clinical variants:
    • Sporadic: This variant type, also known as "non-African" is found outside of Africa.

  • Lymphomas

    • Thomas Hodgkin published the first description of lymphoma in 1832, specifically of the form named after him, Hodgkin's lymphoma.
    • The category of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is divided into 16 different diseases.
    • Hodgkin lymphoma usually is treated with radiotherapy alone, as long as it is localized.
    • Advanced Hodgkin disease requires systemic chemotherapy, sometimes combined with radiotherapy.
    • National Institutes of Health, lymphomas account for about five percent of all cases of cancer in the United States, and Hodgkin's lymphoma, in particular, accounts for less than one percent of all cases of cancer in the United States.

  • Cryptococcosis

    • Other conditions which pose an increased risk include certain lymphomas (e.g.
    • Hodgkin's lymphoma), sarcoidosis, liver cirrhosis, and patients on long-term corticosteroid therapy.
    • Treatment options in non-AIDS patients who have reduced immune-system function is not well studied.

  • RNA Oncogenic Viruses

    • Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (HHV-8) has been linked to Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma.
    • Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been linked to Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disease, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

  • Other Diseases and Epstein-Barr Virus

    • It is also associated with particular forms of cancer, such as Hodgkin's lymphoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and central nervous system lymphomas associated with HIV.

  • Spinal Cord Compression

    • Tumors that commonly cause cord compression are lung cancer (non-small cell type), breast cancer, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, thyroid cancer, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
    • Some tumors are highly sensitive to chemotherapy (e.g. lymphomas, small-cell lung cancer) and may be treated with chemotherapy alone.

  • DNA Oncogenic Viruses

    • The Epstein-Barr virus has been linked to Burkitt's lymphoma.
    • In cells that are non-permissive for replication, viral DNA is usually, but not always, integrated into the cell chromosomes at random sites.

  • Kidney Transplant

    • Living-donor renal transplants are further characterized as genetically related (living-related) or non-related (living-unrelated) transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.
    • The major barrier to organ transplants between genetically non-identical patients lay in the recipient's immune system, which would treat a transplanted kidney as a "non-self" and immediately or chronically reject it.
    • However, suppressing an individual's immune system places that individual at greater risk of infection and cancer (particularly skin cancer and lymphoma), in addition to the side effects of the medications.
    • Thus other, non-steroid immunosuppressive agents are needed, which also allow lower doses of prednisolone.

  • Urinary Bladder Cancer

    • Non-epithelial cancers (such as lymphoma or sarcoma) rarely affect the bladder, but these are not properly included in the colloquial term "bladder cancer. " Bladder cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder.
    • Bladder cancer characteristically causes blood in the urine; this may be visible to the naked eye (gross [visible or macroscopic] hematuria), or detectable only by microscope (microscopic [or non-visible] hematuria).
    • These signs and symptoms are not specific to bladder cancer, and are also caused by non-cancerous conditions, including prostate infections, over-active bladder, and cystitis.

  • Immunotherapy for Cancer

    • Since the immune system responds to the environmental factors it encounters on the basis of discrimination between self and non-self, many kinds of tumor cells that arise as a result of the onset of cancer are more or less tolerated by the patient's own immune system since the tumor cells are essentially the patient's own cells that are growing, dividing, and spreading without proper regulatory control.
    • Radioimmunotherapy in turn involves the use of radioactively conjugated murine antibodies against cellular antigens, mostly for treatment of lymphomas.
    • Topical immunotherapy utilizes an immune enhancement cream (imiquimod), which is an interferon producer, causing the patient's own killer T cells to destroy warts, actinic keratoses, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, cutaneous T cell lymphoma, and superficial spreading melanoma.