Lymphoma can be misdiagnosed or fail to be diagnosed if a physician mistakes symptoms for another disease and fails to do a biopsy or blood test. In some cases, blood tests or biopsies can also be erroneously diagnosed as other diseases by pathologists that are not well trained in detecting lymphoma.
Thus, 5% of patients with common B-cell lymphomas and up to 20–40% of patients with less common lymphoma types might be inaccurately diagnosed.
Getting a Second Opinion. NHL is a difficult disease to diagnose, therefore you may want to get a second opinion by an experienced hematopathologist before you begin treatment. Some types of NHL can be confused with one other.
First, lymphoma cells may “hide” to become invisible to the immune system. Second, lymphoma cells may “defend” themselves to become resistant to immune eradication.
Most types of lymphoma can't be diagnosed by a blood test. However, blood tests can help your medical team find out how lymphoma and its treatment are affecting your body.
Lymphoma does not have any known risk factors, and symptoms are easily overlooked, as often patients do not experience symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) may be difficult to diagnosis. You may want to get a second medical opinion by an experienced hematopathologist before you begin treatment.
Lymphoma can be misdiagnosed or fail to be diagnosed if a physician mistakes symptoms for another disease and fails to do a biopsy or blood test. In some cases, blood tests or biopsies can also be erroneously diagnosed as other diseases by pathologists that are not well trained in detecting lymphoma.
Symptoms of lymphoma often depend on the type you have, what organs are involved, and how advanced your disease is. Some people with lymphoma will experience obvious signs of the disease, while others won't notice any changes.
The doctor also might order blood tests to look for signs of infection or other problems. Blood tests aren't used to diagnose lymphoma, though. If the doctor suspects that lymphoma might be causing your symptoms, they might recommend a biopsy of a swollen lymph node or other affected area.
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.
Blood tests are essential to accurately diagnosing this complex disease. These tests can show whether you have lymphoma cells or abnormal levels of normal cells: Blood smear: We take a drop of blood and look at it under a microscope.
The only way to be absolutely sure of a diagnosis of lymphoma (or any other cancer) is for a doctor to conduct medical tests including performing an excisional biopsy to remove an entire lymph node or an incisional biopsy to remove a portion of the diseased tissue.
The most common sign of lymphoma is a lump or lumps, usually in the neck, armpit or groin. These lumps are swollen lymph nodes, sometimes known as 'glands'. Usually, they're painless.
With lymphoma, the lymph nodes often grow slowly and may be there for months or years before they're noticed. But sometimes they grow very quickly. Usually, the swollen nodes don't hurt. But some people say their lumps ache or are painful.
The best way to find lymphoma early is to pay attention to possible signs and symptoms. One of the most common symptoms is enlargement of one or more lymph nodes, causing a lump or bump under the skin which is usually not painful. This is most often on the side of the neck, in the armpit, or in the groin.
Swollen lymph nodes and a lump: One of the most common signs of non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a swollen lymph node or nodes, which causes a non-painful lump under the skin. Most commonly, this occurs on the side of the neck, under the arm or in the groin region.
Cancer-related fatigue is exhaustion that's at a much higher level than would usually be expected – you might feel tired very quickly after doing quite little. It can be physical, emotional or mental exhaustion.
Sometimes, people with follicular lymphoma have no symptoms for many years and do not need treatment. Some may never need treatment. In other people, treatment may be required for symptoms.
Lymph nodes in lymphomas may be morphologically difficult to distinguish from metastatic lymph nodes based on ultrasound alone – e.g. they become round in shape and present chaotic or peripheral vascular pattern(3, 5).
The most common type of low grade NHL is follicular lymphoma. For limited disease, you are most likely to have radiotherapy to the affected lymph nodes. This can help control the lymphoma for a long time, and may cure it.
CT scan is less sensitive for lymphoma than for most solid tumours and the diagnosis may be missed.
Follicular lymphoma is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It is usually slow growing and called a low grade lymphoma.
low-grade or indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma – where the cancer grows slowly and you may not experience any symptoms for many years.