How To Detect And Deal With AIDS Related Lymphoma?

Lymphoma can develop in any part of the body including lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen, blood or other organs.

Lymphoma is a group of diseases in which the cells of the immune system become cancerous and begin to divide and multiply in a lymph node in an uncontrolled manner.

AIDS related lymphoma:

AIDS related lymphoma is a disease in which malignant cells form in the lymph system of your body if you have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is caused by HIV, which attacks and weakens the immune system of the body. Therefore, your immune system will be unable to fight infections and diseases that attack your body.

If you have HIV, you have an increased risk of developing infections, lymphoma and other types of cancers. Lymphomas are divided into hodgkin’s and non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. Both types of lymphomas can occur if you have AIDS, but non-hodgkin’s lymphoma is common.

AIDS related lymphoma are divided into three types: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, B-cell immunoblastic lymphoma and small non-cleaved cell lymphoma. If you have AIDS related lymphoma, the possible signs you can see include fever, weight loss and night sweats.

How AIDS related lymphoma can be detected?

Physical exam and history: An exam to check for lumps and your eating and past health problems are taken.

Complete blood count: A sample of blood is drawn and number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are checked. Amount of hemoglobin present in red blood cells is checked.

Lymph node biopsy: Removal of a part or all of lymph node is done and the tissue is viewed under microscope to look for cancer cells. To remove entire lymph node, excisional biopsy is done and to remove part of the lymph node, incisional biopsy is done. Needle biopsy is done to remove the sample of a tissue from a lymph node.

HIV test: HIV test is done to measure HIV antibodies in a blood sample.

Bone marrow biopsy: This test is done by removing a small piece of bone and bone marrow by inserting a needle into the hip bone or breast bone and the samples are tested under microscope to look for cancer signs.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) test: This test is used to measure EBV antibody levels in a blood sample, tissue or cerebrospinal fluid.

How to deal with AIDS related lymphoma?

AIDS related lymphoma can be treated by combining the treatments of lymphoma and AIDS. If you have AIDS, treatment can cause further damage to the weakened immune system. If you have AIDS related lymphoma, you are treated with low drug doses than patients who have only lymphoma.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy is used to slow down the progression of HIV. The other treatments include combination chemotherapy, high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, radiation therapy and monoclonal antibody therapy. Treatment depends on the stage, history, and grade of the disease, as well as on your general health.