Hodgkins Disease - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Hodgkin's lymphoma , also known as Hodgkin's disease , is a type of lymphoma first described by Thomas Hodgkin in 1832. Lymph tissue is part of the body's immune system, which sends out white blood cells and antibodies to fight infection. Lymphoma refers to cancers that develop in the lymphatic system. In Hodgkin's disease, cells in the lymphatic system become abnormal. The disease usually spreads from the lymph nodes in the neck, chest, and armpits to the spleen, and then to the liver or nodes bordering the aorta.

Hodgkin's disease most commonly affects people between the ages of 15 and 40 and people older than age 55. It's one of two common types of cancers of the lymphatic system. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the other type, is far more common. In the United States in 2004, there were about 7,880 new cases of Hodgkin's disease, compared with 54,320 new cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Each year, about 1,300 Americans die of Hodgkin's disease. However, death rates for this disease have dropped by 60 percent since the 1970s. Advances in diagnosis, staging and treatment of Hodgkin's disease have helped to make this once uniformly fatal disease highly treatable with the potential for full recovery.

Causes of Hodgkins Disease

Common causes and risk factor's of Hodgkins Disease include the following :

• People between the ages of 15 and 40, as well as those older than 55, are most at risk of Hodgkin's disease.
• Males are slightly more likely to develop Hodgkins disease.
• People who have had illnesses caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, such as infectious mononucleosis, may be four times as likely to develop Hodgkin's disease as people who haven't had a past Epstein-Barr infection.
• Anyone with a brother or a sister who has the disease faces an increased risk of developing Hodgkin's, though this may be due to similar environmental exposures rather than genetic factors.

Symptoms of Hodgkins Disease

Some common Symptoms of Hodgkins Disease :

• Fever and chills
• Loss of appetite
• Painless swelling of lymph nodes in your neck, armpits or groin
• Fatigue
• Night sweats
• Itching of the skin
• Unexplained weight loss

Treatment of Hodgkins Disease

• Radiation therapy.
• High-dose chemotherapy with bone marrow transplant. 
• Chemotherapy.

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