Malignant Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) – symptoms, treatment

Proven content

Malignant Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) is a disease that was considered incurable 10 years ago. It was possible to extend the lives of some patients, but permanent cures were rare. Today, early diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma enables the cure of up to 90 percent. sick.

Lymphoma is a cancer of the white blood cells that play an important role in the body’s immune system. They move in the blood and lymph nodes, and their task is to protect the body against all diseases, including cancer. Unfortunately, under certain circumstances, they also succumb to pathology.

There are several types of white blood cells, but the basic cell of the immune system is the lymphocyte. It is from this cell that lymphomas originate – a group of 71 cancers whose common feature is that they come from a lymphocyte cell. We divide lymphomas into two main groups: Hodgkin’s lymphomas (Hodgkin) i the remaining (not Hodgkin). Together, about 7 people in Poland suffer from both types of cancer each year, and about 20 of them are diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL). Most people are ill at the age of 30-50 and after the age of XNUMX.

Lymphadenopathy in Hodgkin’s Disease

The most common symptom of Hodgkin’s Disease is painless enlargement of the lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, groin, and inside the chest and abdomen. Hodgkin’s lymphomas can also develop outside of the lymph nodes in organs such as the spleen, liver, stomach, intestines, bone marrow, skin, kidneys, and the brain, but this location is less common.

Apart from enlarged lymph nodes, Hodgkin’s lymphomas do not cause any specific symptoms. Signs of developing Hodgkin’s disease may be: elevated body temperature, persistent for a long time, profuse sweating, especially at night, shortness of breath and cough, weakness of the body, sudden weight loss, abdominal pain, itching of the skin and skin changes. All these symptoms can accompany many diseases, which is why early diagnosis of lymphomas is so difficult. However, these nonspecific symptoms cannot be ignored and the cause must be explained.

Hodgkin’s lymphomas – prevention

It is very important to periodically examine the lymph nodes by a general practitioner and refer patients for imaging examinations (ultrasound, X-ray, tomography) of the abdominal and chest cavities. Sometimes only an imaging examination can detect malignant Hodgkin’s disease, which in many cases develops secretly as a mediastinal tumor. In recent years, an important role has been emphasized PET (positron tomography) both in diagnosing the disease and assessing the effectiveness of treatment.

Hodgkin’s symptoms

A fairly common symptom of Hodgkin’s lymphoma is itching of the skin, manifested after drinking alcohol or a warm shower. Some of these patients are misdiagnosed as atopic dermatitis or another dermatological disease. Exercise-induced dyspnoea is considered a late symptom of the disease when the tumor in the mediastinum exceeds 7-10 cm. Post-exercise dyspnoea is most often reported by people who practice sports intensively. In contrast, chronic cough is generally neglected, especially by heavy smokers. It is simply considered a result of smoking and not told to the doctor. Doing so delays diagnosis and reduces the effectiveness of the treatment. – In Poland, relatively many patients are diagnosed at an advanced clinical stage – writes Dr. med. Wojciech Jurczak in the article published in the journal Świat Lekarza – 70-80 percent. patients have stage II IBX-IV, where B means the presence of general symptoms, and X a large mass of the tumor.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment – chemotherapy and radiation therapy

The diagnosis is based on the histopathological examination of the lymph node, but the entire node is not taken, as in other neoplastic diseases. Fine-needle biopsy is not used with this disease. Treatment depends on the stage of the tumor and the degree of tumor malignancy.

The most important method of treating Hodgkin’s disease is chemotherapy, often several months with the use of several cytostatics. Sometimes chemotherapy must be combined with radiation therapy. This method of treatment has undergone a great evolution: from irradiation of wide fields to targeted radiotherapy, i.e. irradiation of originally changed places. It is now safer and has fewer side effects.

– Despite significant progress achieved – writes in his article Dr. of science, med. Tomasz Wróbel (Świat Lekarza) – in about 10 percent. patients in advanced stages do not achieve complete remission, and 20-30 percent of those who initially respond to treatment will relapse over time. These patients are re-treated with chemotherapy in combination with a hematopoietic cell transplant. According to the aforementioned expert, this method of treatment achieves positive results in about half of the patients, but it is a treatment with a high degree of toxicity. The group with the worst prognosis are patients who show resistance to chemotherapy from the beginning of the treatment.

Hodgkin’s treatment and side effects

Some chemotherapy drugs as well as radiation have long-term side effects, such as the development of other cancers and infertility, due to damage to the reproductive organs. This is especially disadvantageous in treating children with Hodgkin’s lymphomas (they account for less than 2 percent of childhood cancers). Children suffering from Hodgkin’s disease are treated in a similar way as adults: chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as combination therapy. Currently, less toxic drugs are used in the oncological treatment of children, and radiotherapy is eliminated in all cases where it is possible.

With Hodgkin’s lymphomas it is difficult to talk about special prophylaxis. However, oncological vigilance on the part of general practitioners is recommended. Dr hab. Dr. Wojciech Jurczak points out that the prognosis of Hodgkin’s Disease is significantly influenced by internal burden, eg cardiological complications. If you have a chronic disease, your lymphoma is less likely to be cured. So, as in the case of most diseases, most depends on the care of GPs, says Dr. Wojciech Jurczak.

Malignant Hodgkin and targeted therapy

Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak, a national consultant in the field of hematology, considered the introduction of monoclonal antibodies to be a real revolution in the treatment of lymphomas. Giving this group of drugs is sometimes called targeted therapy because they act on, bind to and destroy specific cancer cells. For several years now, a monoclonal antibody called tomorrowwho fulfilled the hopes of both doctors and the sick. This drug is primarily used to break resistance to standard treatment. Recently, more drugs from the group of monoclonal antibodies have appeared, including brentuximab vedotin. It raised hope for even more effective treatment of Hodgkin’s disease than before. Oncologists would like to use it as a first-line treatment along with the proven ABVD chemotherapy regimen. When an appropriate therapeutic program is created, the drug will be reimbursed. Prof. Wiesław Jędrzejczak at the press conference devoted to Hodgkin’s lymphomas expressed the hope that brentuximab vedotin combined with a cytostatics and the quick finding of a bone marrow donor will allow for success even in cases of treatment-resistant Hodgkin’s lymphomas and other cancers originating from lymphoid tissue.

The content of the medTvoiLokony website is intended to improve, not replace, the contact between the Website User and their doctor. The website is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Before following the specialist knowledge, in particular medical advice, contained on our Website, you must consult a doctor. The Administrator does not bear any consequences resulting from the use of information contained on the Website. Do you need a medical consultation or an e-prescription? Go to halodoctor.pl, where you will get online help – quickly, safely and without leaving your home.