Hodgkin's Disease

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Overview

Hodgkin's disease is a type of lymphoma. Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system—the body's blood-filtering tissues that help to fight infection and disease. Like other cancers, lymphomas occur when cells divide too much and too fast. Growth control is lost, and the lymphatic cells may overcrowd, invade, and destroy lymphoid tissues and metastasize (spread) to other organs.

There are two general types of lymphomas: "Hodgkin's Disease" (named after Dr. Thomas Hodgkin, who first recognized it in 1832) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The lymphatic tissue in Hodgkin's disease contains specific cells (Reed-Sternberg cells) that are not found in any other cancerous lymphomas or cancers. These cells distinguish Hodgkin's disease (HD) from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs).

Anatomy
The lymphatic system—the target of lymphomas—includes the lymph nodes and other organs that make up the immune and blood-forming (hematopoietic) elements of the body.

The lymph nodes are oval, pea-sized organs. They are found beneath the skin along the route of large blood vessels, and they are grouped in areas such as the neck, underarms, groin, abdomen (trunk), and pelvis (hips). The lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by narrow tubes known as lymphatic vessels.

These vessels carry lymph, a colorless liquid that is collected from the body's tissues; chyle, a milky fluid taken from food in the intestine during digestion; lymphocytes, specialized white blood cells; and other blood cells. The lymphatic fluids and lymphocytes ultimately are funneled back into the bloodstream through a connection in the left upper chest.

Other organs that contain lymphatic tissue and so are affected by lymphoma include the:

• spleen, a "ductless gland" that is located on the left side of the body under the lower rib cage; it makes lymphocytes and other infection-fighting cells, stores healthy blood cells, and filters the blood);
• thymus gland, a gland located in front of the heart; it produces immature T-cells that, when mature, are involved in immune system responses;
• bone marrow, the inner region of the bones;
• adenoids, the lymphatic tissue in the post-nasal area; and
• tonsils, the rounded mass of lymphatic tissue at the back of the throat

Both Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) begin in lymphatic tissues and can invade other organs. But NHLs are much less predictable than Hodgkin's disease, and they are more likely to spread to areas beyond the lymph nodes.

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