Lymphoma of the spine – a malignant tumor of lymphoid tissue that develops outside the bone marrow. The disease can be diagnosed in people of all ages. But regarding gender, the majority of patients were men. And to this day not developed a clear classification, which would help more precisely to understand how exactly the disease is dangerous.
Reasons
The causes of lymphoma are still unclear. And there is no sign, which had existed from all patients with this diagnosis. However, there are some assumptions. So, for example, people with HIV infection, as well as those who receive immunosupressivny therapy, lymphoma develops most often.
Also most of the patients were discovered certain changes in chromosome 8, which do not affect the development and work of other bodies.
There are several factors that can have a significant impact on the development of this disease. This is a permanent long-term work with pesticides and herbicides, some medications, which is performed without control of the snarl, and the impact of different types of radiation, including ultraviolet and x-ray.
According to the degree of malignancy, these tumors can be divided into 3 groups. The first group includes those that have a low degree of malignancy. The second – those which belong to the intermediate degree. And finally, the third group – the high degree of malignancy.
How does
Symptoms of lymphoma of the spine can be very different and depend on the type of tumor prevails at the moment. However, the first and most important characteristic that always draws attention to itself – the lymph nodes, liver and spleen. In the pathological process involved almost all lymph nodes regardless of their location.
At the beginning of the enlarged lymph nodes become dense, but completely painless, after some time passes, and they combined into larger groups at the first signs of ulceration and formation of sinus tracts. In this period there may appear such symptoms as:
- Cough.
- Shortness of breath.
- Feeling a lump in my throat.
- Problems with swallowing.
- Cyanosis and puffiness of the face.
- Swelling of hands and feet.
- Intestinal obstruction.
- Jaundice.
After some time the tumor begins to metastasize – mutant cells are carried by lymph flow throughout the body.
Among the symptoms we can distinguish the deterioration of appetite, and severe weight loss, malaise, constantly elevated body temperature, poor sleep, sweating, lethargy, irritability. If there is a loss of bone marrow, then there are symptoms like anemia, a frequent and severe infection, persistent bleeding, especially nose, the appearance of bruises without injuries.
In this stage, the bone lesions appear severe pain in the spine, suffering pelvic bones, starts muscle atrophy, pain in the joints and bones, which are not even alone.
Diagnosis
Lymphoma of the thoracic and lumbar spine diagnosed by several methods. Is the puncture of the enlarged lymph node, which allows to determine the degree of malignancy. X-ray examination, including CT and MRI. Ultrasound allows us to determine the location of tumors and the presence or absence of metastases.
Mandatory blood and urine tests, and of course analysis to identify markers of tumor process.
Treatment
The treatment will depend entirely on how much spread process, as well as from morphological studies of cells. If it is a single tumor, it is removed surgically. Expressed in the spleen, which destroys not only tumor cells, but also healthy, also carried out the removal of this organ.
Radiation therapy is one of effective methods that allows you to cure the disease. Can be used along with surgery, or independently. Chemotherapy using only one drug can also be very effective when a timely appointment and in the absence of metastases.
Finally, bone marrow transplantation is the technique that allows you to restore the normal cellular composition of blood.
Forecast
Good prognosis if lymphoma would be In a cell. In this case, after treatment, the survival rate at 5 years exceeds 70%. If this is a T-cell lymphoma, then the survival rate within 5 years it will be equal to 30%. At the same time, lymphoma of the spine has a high malignancy, and therefore, the percentage of survival here is minimal.
