Every year thousands of individuals are affected by lymphoma. You or someone close to you may be one of them. Let me explain some basic facts about lymphoma and cancer so that we can take a step towards understanding the disease.
Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymph system.
A cancer is a condition when some of the body's own cells start behaving abnormally. Our body is made of different types of cells e.g. nerve cells, muscle cells and blood cells. Each of these perform specific functions, and are controlled by signals in the body that control their growth and multiplication. Sometimes a cell of a particular type stops listening to the signals that ask it to stop growing. The cell simply continues to grow and multiply. This is an abnormal cell called a cancer cell. As the cell grows it looks different, does not perform its usual function, and by multiplying needlessly it forms a lump or a growth. Some of these cells also break off from their original site and spread to other parts of the body where they start growing afresh. This disrupts the normal functioning of both the organ to which it belonged and the organs to which its has spread.
The lymph system is an interconnected network of thin tubes and nodes that carries white blood cells. These cells fight infections and are vitally important for our well-being. Read more about the lymph system in Understanding the Lymph System.
So when a lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) that is a part of the lymph system becomes cancerous, it may grow and mutliply to form a lymphoma. Lymphoma may affect any of the parts of the lymph system. In fact, lymphomas can occur in other organs as well. This is because small amounts of lymph and lymph tissue pass through practically all organs in the body in order that white blood cells can reach them to control infections.
Lymphoma is not a single cancer but a group of many related cancers. There are two main types of lymphoma - Hodgkin Disease and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. These two broad groups may be similar in their symptoms and the tests that are required, but they behave differently when they affect a person. The treatment options are also different.
You can read more in detail about these two types from the following sections:
