Diseases Treated With Bone Marrow Transplants Lymphomas

What isLymphomas?

Lymphoma is a broad term that covers a variety of cancers of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system helps kill bacteria and is important for fighting infections and diseases. The system runs through the body, occasionally broadening into lymph nodes that sometimes swell when we are sick.

In lymphoma, some of the cells in the system begin to multiply uncontrollably. If the cells that multiply are all the same kind, they are called cancerous or malignant. The different lymphomas are determined by the type of cell that multiplies, and the way the cancer occurs.

The two categories of lymphoma are Hodgkin s disease (in which the Reed-Sternberg cells become cancerous) and Non-Hodgkin s lymphomas. Non-Hodgkin s lymphomas (NHL) are the most common.

Risk Factors for Lymphoma

Unfortunately, doctors don t know precisely what causes lymphoma. There are however, some identified risk factors for the disease.

Lymphoma can develop in anyone, even if there is no evidence of the risk factors listed below:

Age: Lymphoma can develop in both children and adults, but most people diagnosed are usually are over the age of 60. When children develop the disease they usually have a pre-existing immune system deficiency.
Weak immune system: Other illnesses or diseases, such as HIV/AIDS weakens the immune system and can make the body more susceptible to lymphoma.
Family history: While some patients with lymphoma claim to have family members also afflicted with the disease, there is no known evidence that lymphoma is hereditary. In some instances, conditions that affect the immune system may run in families, therefore increasing the chances of lymphoma developing within families.
Infections: Illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, Epstein-Barr virus, Hepatitis C, and Helicobacter pylori are all factors that can increase the risk of developing lymphoma.
Radiation: People exposed to high levels of radiation such as survivors of nuclear reactor accidents and Atomic bombs are at an increased risk for developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. People also who had previous radiation therapy are also at a higher risk for lymphoma.

Studies are now being done to see if there is a relation to obesity and certain herbicides and chemicals and the development of lymphoma.

Treatment of Lymphoma

At its early stages, localized NHL is sometimes treated with radiation; widespread disease requires chemotherapy, or chemotherapy monoclonal antibody therapy with radiation, depending on the tumor size, cell type and location of the lymphoma.

Treatment for NHL sometimes includes vaccines and other forms of immunotherapy, such as bone marrow transplants, especially after one or more of the other treatments have been tried.

Candidates for bone marrow transplantation can have some of their healthy marrow removed before being treated with radiation, since radiation kills the marrow. Then the marrow can be reintroduced.

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