Lymphoma | Notion

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Hodgkin's lymphoma is a malignant proliferation of lymphocytes characterised by the presence of the Reed-Sternberg cell. It has a bimodal age distributions being most common in the third and seventh decades

Histological classification

Type	Frequency	Prognosis	Notes
Nodular sclerosing	Most common (around 70%)	Good prognosis	More common in women. Associated with lacunar cells
Mixed cellularity	Around 20%	Good prognosis	Associated with a large number of Reed-Sternberg cells
Lymphocyte predominant	Around 5%	Best prognosis
Lymphocyte depleted	Rare	Worst prognosis

'B' symptoms also imply a poor prognosis

weight loss > 10% in last 6 months
fever > 38ºC
night sweats

Other factors associated with a poor prognosis identified in a 1998 NEJM paper included:

age > 45 years
stage IV disease
haemoglobin < 10.5 g/dl
lymphocyte count < 600/µl or < 8%
male
albumin < 40 g/l
white blood count > 15,000/µl

Staging

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/СT) is the mainstay of imaging for staging Hodgkin's lymphoma.