Course of the disease

The course of a lymphoma disease is difficult to predict. In particular, the term non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (abbreviation NHL) is used to describe a variety of diseases that are based on the degeneration of lymphocytes as the cause of the disease, but which can differ in their ultimate course. Typical is a settlement of the degenerated cells in the lymphatic system.

These cells also occur there in healthy people, but in considerably lower numbers. Their actual task is the immune defense. In some forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the degenerated lymphocytes initially spread only in the lymphatic system.

This results, for example, in enlarged lymph nodes in various areas of the body or swelling of the spleen or palatal tonsils, which are also part of the lymphatic system. Especially in advanced stages of the disease, degenerated lymphocytes can spread from the lymphatic system via the blood to various organs such as the liver, lungs and skeleton. This course of the disease is associated with a worse prognosis.

Depending on how quickly the disease progresses, i.e. the time interval between the onset of lymph node swelling, organ involvement and other symptoms such as fever, night sweats and weight loss, a distinction is made between highly malignant, very aggressive and low-malignant, less aggressive forms of lymphoma. Highly malignant forms end more quickly if no therapy is administered, some of them even fatal within a few months, while low-malignant forms can persist for years without any significant worsening of symptoms.In addition, in highly malignant forms, earlier organ infestation can often be observed. Since the degenerated lymphoma cells of the highly malignant form divide correspondingly frequently and at short intervals, the form often responds better to chemotherapeutic treatment.

The reason for this is that these drugs mainly destroy rapidly dividing cells. It is important to note that the individual courses of the disease can vary greatly from one individual to another, even if they have the same type of lymphoma. An older person affected with many other previous illnesses, such as heart disease or immune deficiency, has a different prognosis from the outset with regard to life expectancy and further progression than a young, otherwise healthy person.