What are the symptoms of lymphoma? In the newly released movie, the heroine’s first attack is a sudden fainting spell at home. During the attack, there is again a sudden difficulty in breathing. But in fact, the symptoms of lymphoma are much more than that. Generally, patients with lymphoma will find painless swelling in the neck, armpit or groin, as well as unexplained weight loss, fever, night sweats, cough, difficulty in breathing, chest pain, weakness, easy fatigue, abdominal distension and pain. After visiting a regular hospital, the doctor will confirm the diagnosis based on the results of physical examination, blood tests, imaging tests and tissue biopsy. Why is it called “Hodgkin”? The disease was first described by Thomas Hodgkin, a British pathologist, in 1832. At the time, however, he did not know it was a form of cancer, but merely observed swollen, hard nodes in the lymph nodes and spleen during an autopsy. He published a paper on his findings, “On Some Pathological Manifestations of Lymph Nodes and Spleen,” but it did not interest many people, and it is said that only eight people attended the academic presentation he gave. Even, when the meeting broke up, those few left without wanting to sign. Until his death in 1866, he did not receive any recognition for his findings. But later, in honor of his discovery, lymphoma was named after him. Who is prone to lymphoma? The causes of cancer are extremely complex, and we call the “causes that increase the occurrence of cancer” as “risk factors”. Risk factors vary from cancer to cancer, and some can be changed while others cannot. For example, smoking is a risk factor for many types of cancer, but if you stop smoking, this risk factor will be eliminated. However, there are some risk factors like “family history” that cannot be eliminated, and some of them are even increasing, such as age. If you have one or more risk factors for a certain cancer, it does not mean that you will definitely get this cancer; but if you can eliminate all the risk factors for a certain cancer, then you have prevented this cancer to the maximum extent. In most cases, it is true that the cause of a specific patient’s lymphoma is difficult to say. However, this does not mean that there is nothing we can do to prevent cancer. The best way to do this is to reduce the risk factors that cause lymphoma.