Burkitt lymphoma: Considered the most aggressive form of lymphoma, this disease is one of the fastest growing of all cancers. Burkitt lymphoma, named for the surgeon who first identified the cancer in the 1950s, accounts for about 2 percent of all lymphoma diagnoses.
Lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma or Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia.
This is a rare, slow-growing type of lymphoma. It's found mainly in the bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen. This type of lymphoma can't be cured. But people can live with it for many years.
Blastic NK cell lymphoma tends to grow very quickly and can be difficult to treat. It can start almost anywhere in the body.
Angioimmunoblastic lymphoma (AITL) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It is a high grade (aggressive) lymphoma that affects blood cells called T cells.
The 5-year survival rate for NHL in the United States is 74%. The survival rates for NHL vary based on several factors. These include the stage and subtype of cancer, a person's age and general health, and how well the treatment plan works. For stage I NHL, the 5-year relative survival rate is more than 86%.
High grade (aggressive) lymphomas generally need more intensive treatment than the low grade types. But they often respond well to treatment. Many people are cured.
Aggressive lymphomas grow and spread quickly, and usually need to be treated right away. The most common type of aggressive lymphoma in the United States is diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Some types of lymphoma, like mantle cell lymphoma, don't fit neatly into either of these categories.
As the disease progresses and moves to stage 4 – it means that lymphoma has been found in lymph nodes on both sides of the body and has metastasized to distant organs. Its most frequent sites of spread include the liver, bone marrow, and lungs. With that, symptoms of dysfunction in those systems may be apparent.
Stage 3. This means that you have lymphoma on both sides of the diaphragm. One example is that the lymphoma is in lymph nodes on both sides of the diaphragm. Another example (see below) is that the lymphoma is in lymph nodes above the diaphragm, as well as lymphoma in the spleen.
There is a chance that your treatment can increase the risk of getting another type of cancer in the future. This is because both chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy work by damaging cells. They kill the lymphoma cells, but they can damage healthy cells too.
More than 80 percent of all patients diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma can be cured by current treatment approaches. The cure rate is higher, approaching 90 percent, in younger patients and those with early-stage favorable disease.
Stage 4 lymphoma means that cancer has spread to an organ external to the lymphatic system. The survival rates vary widely depending on an individual's risk factors and type of cancer. The survival rate of stage 4 lymphoma is lower than that of the other stages, but doctors can cure the condition in some cases.
The most common sites are in the chest, neck, or under the arms. Hodgkin lymphoma most often spreads through the lymph vessels from lymph node to lymph node. Rarely, late in the disease, it can invade the bloodstream and spread to other parts of the body, such as the liver, lungs, and/or bone marrow.
People with NHL most often die from infections, bleeding or organ failure resulting from metastases. A serious infection or sudden bleeding can quickly lead to death, even if someone doesn't appear very ill.
Burkitt lymphoma grows very rapidly, which means that symptoms usually develop quickly, over just a few days or weeks. The most common symptom is one or more lumps, which often develop in several parts of your body. These are swollen lymph nodes.
Stage 4 lymphoma is treatable. Aggressive rounds of chemotherapy are often given as a first-line treatment for lymphoma at this stage.
Other common non-Hodgkin lymphoma symptoms
Night sweats (often soaking the sheets) and/or chills. Persistent fatigue, lethargy, weakness. Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting. Abdominal pain or swelling, or a feeling of fullness.
you develop 'B symptoms' (night sweats, weight loss and fevers) your lymph nodes or spleen start to grow quickly or you develop swollen lymph nodes in new places. your blood tests or other test results show that lymphoma is affecting your major organs or is growing in your bone marrow.
Low-Grade Lymphoma
These grow so slowly that patients can live for many years mostly without symptoms, although some may experience pain from an enlarged lymph gland. After five to 10 years, low-grade disorders begin to progress rapidly to become aggressive or high-grade and produce more severe symptoms.
Treatment for many patients is chemotherapy (usually 2 to 4 cycles of the ABVD regimen), followed by radiation to the initial site of the disease (involved site radiation therapy, or ISRT). Another option is chemotherapy alone (usually for 3 to 6 cycles) in selected patients.
However, doctors consider them highly treatable. According to the National Cancer Institute, doctors are able to cure around half of all aggressive NHL cases. Between 2012–2018, the 5-year relative survival rate for NHL was 73.8%. This means 73.8% of people were still alive 5 years after diagnosis.
It takes time but most people adjust well to life after a diagnosis of lymphoma and find a 'new normal'. This might involve making some changes to your everyday life.