Intestinal lymphoma is a neoplasm that initially has a benign form, but after a while becomes malignant. This neoplasm appears in the stomach, and it affects the lymphoid tissues, and certain factors contribute to the development of this disease.
Main causes of lymphoma
Scientists have been studying this rare oncological disease for a long time, but to this day they cannot say exactly what is the reason for the degeneration of he althy cells into a malignant tumor. Doctors were only able to determine which factors can affect the rate of development of intestinal lymphoma to a greater extent. One of the very first reasons is a person's hereditary predisposition to any oncological diseases, in addition, the development of this malignant formation can provoke any disturbances in the immune system.
Lymphoma in HIV-infected and seriously ill people
Very often such a serious disease occurs in HIV-infected people, in addition, a potential risk group may alsoinclude those people who took drugs containing hormones. Those people who have undergone serious transplantation of any internal organs are also susceptible to the disease.
Symptoms
The very first symptoms of intestinal lymphoma in children and adults appear already in the first stages of development, and, first of all, the patient periodically has nausea, gradually disappears appetite. A person may have a constant feeling of fullness in the stomach. These symptoms of intestinal lymphoma are gradually added to small pain in the lower abdomen, as well as constipation or diarrhea.
Moreover, at the very first stages of the development of such an oncological disease, such symptoms of small intestine lymphoma as persistent diarrhea most often occur, and after the neoplasm significantly increases in size, the patient already begins severe constipation, which lasts from two days and up to several weeks, then it becomes chronic. Permanent constipation in lymphoma is accompanied by constant and very strong gas formation, the appearance of bloody or reddish-brown mucus in the stool, anemia and bloating. To these symptoms, you can also add a constant belching, which occurs even in cases where a person has not eaten, as well as disturbances in the work of the heart.
Diagnosis
In order to understand and not be mistaken with exactly howthere is a development of malignant pathologies, it is necessary to conduct a medical examination of the body in a timely manner. There are several different methods for testing, but there are the best ones, which give the most information about the stage and nature of the tumor formed.
- Diagnosis of intestinal lymphoma by laparotomy. This procedure is one of the surgical operations. The patient's stomach is cut, with the help of laparotomy, doctors extract the material necessary for the study. This diagnostic method is the most accurate available.
- Diagnosis by X-ray. Using this method, you can diagnose small malignant tumors, as well as understand where metastases originate from.
- Diagnosis by ultrasound. Thanks to this procedure, it is possible to determine the size of the existing tumor, and, in addition, to see the condition of both affected and he althy tissues of the rectum.
- Donate blood for a general analysis and, in addition, pass a test with tumor markers. By studying the results of such an analysis, one can understand which specific organ is affected by the disease. You can view some parameters of the tumor, such as microcytic anemia, and see if the ESR level has increased.
- Perform endogastroscopy examination. For such a diagnostic process, you will need certain equipment. In addition to diagnostics, during the procedure, you can collect material that will later be used in the biopsy of the stomach. And also thanks to this study, you can track the presence of pathologies.
- Biopsy. At this stage, the taken material is being prepared for sending to various studies, thanks to which doctors will be able to study the existing tumor in more detail.
Treatment
Intestinal lymphoma is still not fully understood, as well as a very rare disease that has been identified in approximately 1% of people. All meet with this type of oncological disease, and Hodgkin's lymphomas are malignant neoplasms of the secondary type and occur only occasionally. With such a pathology, metastases are located in the intestine, as for the lesion, it may be located in some other place. Patients who have been diagnosed with a non-Hodgkin variant of a tumor in the intestines come to doctors much more often.
Two variants of intestinal lymphoma occur in patients over the age of 50, and in women this disease is detected much less frequently than in men. In addition, attention should be paid to the fact that neoplasms are formed in the small intestine only in 20% of cases, this oncological disease is most often diagnosed in the large intestine.
Treatment plan
Unlike many other oncological diseases, intestinal lymphoma clearly manifests itself already in the very initial stages, so patients who experience discomfort from the onset of symptoms are sent to the doctor in a timely manner. Naturally, with timely treatment, the chances of recovery without relapses are largelyincrease. After a patient who has vivid symptoms of this oncological disease is sent to the doctor, a diagnosis is made.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed, an individual treatment plan is drawn up for a patient with intestinal lymphoma, which can be of two types.
Choice of therapy
In some cases, treatment begins with surgery using the most modern equipment, and then the result is fixed with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In other cases, treatment begins with chemotherapy without surgery, but this treatment process increases the risk of damage to the intestinal walls. In addition, such therapy may be accompanied by severe vomiting, constant nausea, which may not stop during the entire treatment, the patient may also feel severe pain. And this is due to the fact that lymphoma is highly sensitive to those drugs that are used in chemotherapy. If the patient can hardly tolerate the procedure, then an emergency operation may be prescribed for him. If the disease is at the very initial stage without clear symptoms of intoxication and massive damage to the lymph nodes, then the doctor may prescribe radiation therapy.
To obtain stable results, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are combined, most often this combined method is used in cases where the oncological disease is already in the second stage. First, such patients are prescribedfour or six cycles of chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy, in which the growths are exposed to x-rays.
If the patient had the initial stage of Hodgkin's lymphoma, then the doctor may prescribe radiation therapy according to a radical program, in which case not only those lymph nodes that were affected by the disease, but also all adjacent areas are exposed to gamma rays. This radical version of radiation therapy is also used to prevent recurrences.
Why is timely treatment so important?
Doctors warn that timely treatment helps to cope with this serious disease in most cases, so it is very important to go to see a local therapist or oncologist at the very first signs of this disease. I must say that the methods of treating lymphoma are constantly changing and improving, for this purpose improved drugs and technologies are used. But, the patient's task is to pay attention to the symptoms that have appeared and immediately seek help from doctors, since in the early stages lymphoma is treated more successfully and faster, relapses occur less frequently. In addition, the patient's task is to strictly follow all the recommendations of the oncologist, it is very important to constantly maintain immunity and monitor your diet, include more he althy and very high-quality products in it.
Forecast
A doctor can make any predictions for intestinal lymphoma only after determining the specific stage of the disease. At the initial stages, all prognosis is good, if treatment is started on it, then patients survive in 90% of cases, and the possibility of recurrence is 15%. Even if the disease is at the very last stage, a person can still hope for a positive outcome. Almost half of those who have had such a disease can live in a calm rhythm for at least five years. Approximately one third of patients suffer from recurrence, but the other half, unfortunately, die.
