Lymphoma

[Kvick]

I am sorry to hear of your ongoing problems. Have you had a lymph node extracted for review. some lymphomas can only be found via extraction. When a rheumatologist told me about this I thought it was extreme. However, my MD agreed so a node was extracted from my groin. It turned out to be Angioimmunoblastic lymphoma. It saved my life. I suggest you get an opinion from a rheumatologist. I hope this helps. Good luck. Kim

[CraigWilson]

Thank you Kim. I had a Biopsy on a Node in the Groin. It’s Stage 1 Follicular Lymphoma. I assume I just follow Doctors orders now. I’ve had a course of RITUXAMAB and the swelling has gone, Nodes are normal size. Doctors are happy but I still have some dormant cancer cells inside me so i’m expecting it to come back. 😪😪 Good news for you.

[lankisterguy in reply to CraigWilson]

Hi CraigWilson & Kvick,

Some top CLL expert pathologists would agree with Kvick that removing a node is preferred vs. needle biopsy.

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A few years ago at a LLS conference in San Francisco, a Stanford pathologist advocated removal of a complete node to allow examination of a slice across the node vs. a needle biopsy to differentiate the NHLs - e.g: follicular vs. Mantle cell, marginal zone etc. Apparently a needle biopsy does not allow the pathologist to determine where in the node the cancer cells are residing.

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But, on the other hand, many of the treatment protocols are simlar for different NHLs, so as long as your doctor can get good results from treatments like Rituxan, the fine differences between the different NHLs may not matter.

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Here is some esoteric reading FYI- ( the language is what I call "high doctor" dialect)-

surgpathcriteria.stanford.e...

bloodjournal.org/content/bl...

uscapknowledgehub.org/site~...

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Len

[CraigWilson in reply to lankisterguy]

Thank you very much Len.