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Non Hodgkins Lymphoma : Description, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Survival
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Non Hodgkins lymphoma is a cancer that affects the lymphocytes, the white blood cells that protect us against microbes,
infections, and other foreign substances. They are in charge of our immunity against various health problems.
Lymphocytes are made by and stored in lymph nodes. These are connected all over the body with long and narrow pipes
(like blood vessels but in this instance called lymph vessels). The lymph vessels contain a transparent fluid which
courses throughout the body carrying lymphocytes and eventually emptying in one of the main blood vessels in the left
upper chest.
Lymphomas start from these lymphocytes in either the lymph nodes or other body parts rich with lymphocytes (e.g. the
spleen, tonsils, and bone marrow (the inside of a bone)) but may eventually reach other organs.
There are 2 main types of lymphomas. Hodgkin's lymphoma (Dr. Thomas Hodgkin is the physician that described it first in
1832 ). All other types of lymphoma are called Non Hodgkins lymphomas.
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