Medical Science: Classification related to lymphoma

  Lymphoma is called lymphoma when the lymphocytes undergo malignant transformation. According to the “World Health Organization Classification Criteria for the Pathology of Lymphatic System Tumors”, there are nearly 70 known pathological types of lymphoma, which can be broadly divided into two categories: Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In China, Hodgkin’s lymphoma accounts for 9% to 10% of lymphomas and is a group of malignant tumors with relatively good efficacy; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma accounts for about 90% of all lymphoma cases, and the incidence rate has been increasing year by year in the past decade.  Malignant lymphoma is more frequent in Europe, North America, Saudi Arabia and certain African countries. The morbidity and mortality rate of this disease in China is low, however, due to the large population base in China, the actual total number of cases is estimated to be around 15,000 per year. And it often occurs in young adults. The distribution of malignant lymphoma in our country does not differ much from ethnic, regional, urban and rural factors; the relationship with gender factors is slightly more male patients than female. The cause of human lymphoma is not clear, and only two viruses are clearly associated with lymphoma in humans, namely EBV and human T-cell lymphoma/leukemia virus (HTLV-1), which are classified into Hodgkin’s disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) according to their pathological characteristics.  1. Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is a cancerous transformation originating from lymphocytes. It often begins in a group of lymph nodes and then spreads to other lymph nodes or extra-nodal organs and tissues. The use of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma has made it a curable tumor.  2. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a group of malignant tumors originating in lymph nodes and other lymphoid tissues, is a major type of lymphoma (other than Hodgkin’s lymphoma) that ranges from the most inert to the most aggressive of human malignancies.