Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer of your lymphatic system, the disease-fighting network that is spread throughout your body. In non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, tumors develop from white blood cells (lymphocytes) in your lymphatic system, often at different locations in your body.

The lymphatic system is part of the body’s immune defense system. Its job is to help fight diseases and infection. The lymphatic system includes a network of thin tubes that branch, like blood vessels, into the tissues throughout the body. Lymphatic vessels carry lymph, a colorless, watery fluid that contains infection-fighting cells called lymphocytes. Along this network of vessels are groups of small, bean-shaped organs called lymph nodes that filter the lymph as it passes through the nodes. Clusters of lymph nodes are found in the underarm, groin, neck, and abdomen. Other parts of the lymphatic system are the spleen, thymus, tonsils and bone marrow. Lymphatic tissue is also found in the other parts of the body, including the stomach, intestines and skin.

Normally, lymphocytes go through a predictable life cycle. Old lymphocytes die, and your body creates new ones to replace them. But in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, your body produces abnormal lymphoma, your body produces abnormal lymphocytes that continue to divide and grow without control. This oversupply of lymphocytes crowds into your lymph nodes, causing them to swell.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma accounts for about 4 percent of all new cancers in the United States. The disease is more than seven times as common as the other general type of lymphoma – Hodgkin’s disease. About 54,000 cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are diagnosed annually in the United States. Each year the disease accounts for about 24,000 deaths in the United States.

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