A Deadly Form Of Lymphoma: Hodgkin’s Disease

While lymphoma is a disease that many people know of, few realize that there are actually two very different types of the disease. One is known as Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and it is the most common, and consequently, the most treatable form of the disease. The other type of lymphoma is known as Hodgkin’s disease, and it can be very deadly. In this article, we’ll let you know a little more about Hodgkin’s disease to increase your knowledge. 

Also known as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease was named after a man known as Thomas Hodgkin. Born in 1798, Hodgkin was a scholar and a physician that worked in England. In Hodgkin’s paper “On Some Morbid Appearances of the Absorbent Glands and Spleen” which he wrote in 1832, he documented some of the first real medical research into the disease. 33 years later, he would be immortalized when a man by the name of Wilks dubbed the disease ‘Hodgkin’s disease’.

The difference between Hodgkin’s disease and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is noted by the presence of a certain type of cell known as Reed-Sternberg cells in the area in which the cancer occurs. These cells seem to be created by the body by a mutation of common white blood cells. The disease can occur at any age, and it usually strikes in early adulthood or during old age, with the most commonly diagnosed cases occurring between the ages of 15 and 40 and after age 50. While we still don’t have exact reasons behind why one may develop lymphoma, there are definitely some key factors that are important to note. A full 40 to 50 percent of all Hodgkin’s disease patients had seen some exposure to the Epstein-Barr virus at some point in their lives. For that reason, many doctors believe that that virus may help the body to mutate the white blood cells, resulting in a case of Hodgkin’s disease. 

When it comes to treating Hodgkin’s lymphoma, there are a few techniques being used. Chemotherapy is often employed to attack the cancerous cells. One thing that doctors are doing now to help the chemotherapy to attack the cancer better is to give the patient extremely high doses of chemotherapy drugs. Since this heavy amount of drug therapy can damage the human body to some extent, doctors often perform bone marrow transplants or blood transplants in order to help the patient’s body get back to normal after taking such a hard hit from the drugs.

Radiation therapy is also used to fight Hodgkin’s disease, with exposure to X-rays causing damage to the cancer and hopefully causing it to halt growth. Experimental treatments are under way as well, with a high level of hope being held for the use of vaccines in treating Hodgkin’s disease in the future. By showing the body exactly how to kill off small amounts of the cancerous cells that are present in lymphoma, scientist hope to teach the body how to take care of the problem on its own. There are vaccines being developed as of this writing that are undergoing clinical testing to show their efficiency in helping those with this often-deadly disease.

If you feel that you may be at risk for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, you should speak to a doctor to express your concerns. It’s better to diagnose any possible problems before they have a chance to spread to other parts of your body. Your health is your responsibility – stay safe!