Blood tests are not used to diagnose lymphoma, but they can sometimes help determine how advanced the lymphoma is.
Common symptoms of having lymphoma include swelling of lymph nodes in your neck, in your armpits or your groin. This is often but not always painless and often could be associated with fevers, or unexplained weight loss, or drenching night sweats, sometimes chills, persistent fatigue.
Where Hodgkin lymphoma can start. Hodgkin lymphoma can start anywhere in the lymphatic system. It can develop in more than one place in the body at the same time. The most common place for it to be noticed is in the lymph nodes in the neck.
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.
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.
Certain areas of skin may also thicken, harden and form plaques that itch and ulcerate. Typically, these plaques develop on the face or buttocks or within skin folds. As a skin lymphoma rash progresses, papules (small bumps) may start to appear.
Other common non-Hodgkin lymphoma symptoms
Fever. Night sweats (often soaking the sheets) and/or chills. Persistent fatigue, lethargy, weakness. Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting.
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.
You might have an ultrasound scan to help diagnose non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Ultrasound scans are useful for looking at individual organs such as the liver and kidneys and showing any changes.
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. Fatigue is different to normal tiredness.
Cutaneous T cell lymphoma
Many types of CTCL start as flat red patches on the skin, which can sometimes be itchy. With darker skin, the patches may appear lighter or darker than the surrounding skin. In the early stages, the skin patches can look like other common conditions such as eczema or psoriasis.
One common symptom of lymphoma is swollen lymph nodes, which can create visible lumps under the skin, usually in the neck, armpit or groin area. However, there are many types of benign skin lumps, such as cysts and lipomas, which are not necessarily a cause for concern.
Loss of Appetite
Not feeling hungry or getting full very quickly is another possible sign of lymphoma. Some patients also feel nauseous, vomit, or develop abdominal pain. Lymphoma affecting your liver might also cause you to feel bloated, resulting from a fluid build-up in your abdomen.
Lymphomas are one of the common cancers of our immune system. It makes up to almost 5% of all cancers. It can affect both young and older adults. The common symptoms of this disease are persistent fevers, drenching night sweats, unintentional weight loss, and generalized or localized swelling of the lymph nodes.
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.
Some people experience lower back pain that is unexplained. It is thought that this may be caused by expanding lymph nodes pressing on nerves.
In the differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy in patients with frequent episodes of tonsillitis, Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease should be taken into account. Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease may convincingly mimic symptoms characteristic of lymphoma.
Lymph nodes can swell for a variety of reasons and are considered to be enlarged if they are bigger than 1.5 centimeters in diameter, or slightly larger than a pea. Typically, lymph nodes that are enlarged due to lymphoma are much bigger and can grow to be the size of a grape (or larger).
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.
Whether your lymphoma is being treated or not, it's important to have treatment to relieve your symptoms. This type of treatment, sometimes called palliative care, can be given along with cancer treatment as well as if cancer treatment is no longer working.