Lymphomas are a disease of the older population of patients. Because lymphoma accounts for 15% of all cancers, it is important that lymphoma is taken into consideration among all malignancies.
Features of lymphoma that can be confused with those of infectious complications of cancer, such as fevers and weight loss, are uncommon. An individual's signs and symptoms may reveal the diagnosis of a specific subtype of lymphoma or prompt additional testing.
Lymphoma refers to a group of blood cancers of which lymphomas are included. There are many types of lymphoma with diverse causes, most commonly related to immunosuppression, such as AIDS, and chronic infectious autoimmune disease, including chronic infection with Epstein-Barr virus (monoclonal or polyclonal), and with chronic cytomegalovirus. The number of new cancers diagnosed annually in the United States and in Europe is increasing.
The B-cell lymphoma patients treated with etoposide exhibited improved quality of life after 3+4 cycles of chemotherapy. The increased quality of life was associated with the improvement in symptoms such as fatigue and bone pain.
B-cell lymphoma arises most commonly in elderly individuals. Treatments include chemotherapy. Radiation and/or surgery may be used in aggressive cases. A small number of cases will also respond to targeted therapy. Lymphoma involving different B-cell subsets have different types of treatments and prognoses.
It is difficult to study lymphoma causation, but we do know a few factors that might help: it's [likely] a heterogenous disorder, it [most] may be due to genetic susceptibility, it's [highly] [likely] [neural] and immune function are altered (neuroimmune hypothesis), it [most] may be a [neoplastic, and not immune-mediated, disease]\n
Probably around 8,000 new cases of this type of cancer are diagnosed each year in America. It is the most common type of cancer in young men.
Current treatment can cure many lymphomas, including hairy cell leukemia, lymphoma in the elderly, and multiple myeloma. Patients with stage IV hairy cell leukemia have an overall 5-year survival of 76%.
To avoid late chemotherapy/radiotherapy toxicity to the lungs and other organs after chemotherapy, lymphocyte count reduction should be done within the first two weeks of therapy. In a recent study, findings also demonstrate the need for routine pulmonary functions tests before chemotherapy starts.
Clinical trials of lymphoma, b-cell may improve survival after chemotherapy, but the risk for progression of the cancer is high. Most patients participating in clinical trials for lymphoma, b-cell experience both benefits and risks.
The primary endpoint showed that etoposide is more effective in reducing the progression rate with the treatment compared to placebo. Etoposide, as single agent therapy, can lower the progression rate as well as the overall mortality rate in patients suffering from NHL.
The incorporation of Etoposide into the management, especially of patients with a poor prognosis, can provide significant benefit. Given the adverse effect profile seen in the use of this agent, this has become the most common scenario.