Living with Hodgkin Lymphoma

If the lymph tissue is cancer, it is called Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There are a lot of ways to treat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The National Institutes of Health pegs a 10-year Hodgkin Lymphoma Survival rate and 80 percent chance of survival if the disease is treated early. If the disease is in its advance stages, the usual prognosis is for a 60 percent chance of survival after five years.

The following organs, the lymph nodes, spleen, liver and bone marrow are the usual targets of Hodgkin Lymphoma. Symptoms of Hodgkin Lymphoma includes swelling of the lymph nodes, loss of appetite, sudden loss of weight, night sweats and fever. The people ages between 15 to 35 and recently ages 55 to 70 are the most affected by Hodgkin Lymphoma. The Hodgkin lymphoma survival rate for this age groups is quite higher compared to others.

Once the symptoms start popping up, better consult a physician as soon as possible. It may turn out only as an infection since the symptoms are the same. Doctors use different methods to diagnose this disease, by biopsies of bone marrow, lymph nodes or other tissues where the diseases is hiding. Blood tests, chemistry tests, bone marrow biopsies, CT or PET scans are used to determine if the disease is in its advance stages. It is important to have this diagnose at an early stage, the Hodgkin Lymphoma survival rate is higher if detected early.

To determine how far the disease has advance, one has to look into the different stages. Stage 1 of Hodgkin Lymphoma is when there is only one lymph node that is affected by cancer cells. If there are already two lymph nodes that are affected, and it is on the same side of the diaphragm, then the disease has reached the second stage. Stage 3 is when the lymph nodes in both diaphragm is affected, leading to the last stage when the disease has already spread to other tissues and organs. The Hodgkin lymphoma survival rate is higher if it detects the ailment during stages 1 and 2. It is very bleak and poor when diagnosed during stages 3 and 4. Treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy is required.