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Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma support

 

Aggressive lymphomas



 

Aggressive lymphoma

On this page you will find information about the various types of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

First, here are the main types of aggressive lymphoma. You will also find these links on the menu at the top.

  1. Diffuse Large B-cell (DLBC)
    1. Relapsed DLBC options
    2. DLBC    microenvironment
  2. Primary Mediastinal
  3. Mantle Cell
  4. T-cell in general
  5. Peripheral T-cell lymphoma
  6. Angioimmunoblastic
  7. Primary Central Nervous System
  8. NK/T-cell
  9. Full classification system.

One of the key differences between the aggressive forms of NHL and the indolent forms of NHL is that the aggressive types are quite often curable with intensive combination chemotherapy. The most common of the aggressive lymphomas is Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma, often called DLBC for short. In general, with modern treatment of patients with aggressive NHL, overall survival at 5 years is approximately 50% to 80% most of whom are cured. The vast majority of relapses for aggressive patients occur in the first 2 years after therapy. The risk of late relapse is higher in patients with both indolent than aggressive disease. This is often a result of a transformation from indolent to aggressive. Transformation rarely involves 100% of the malignant cells, so when the transformation occurs the patient has both types of NHL.

See the "Treatment Outcomes" page for the International Prognostic Index which measures the risk of relapse for patients with aggressive lymphoma. The most common type of aggressive lymphoma is Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma. This accounts for approximately 30% of all lymphomas combined.  

Additional reading

Burkitt's Lymphoma

Burkitt's lymphoma is very rare in North America. It is most common in children and in Africa, or people of African descent. It is an extremely aggressive type of NHL, but in children it has a very high cure rate with intensive therapy.

In adults the cure rate is not as high. However a 2013 study from the New England Journal of Medicine shows that a much lower intensity approach in adults, including adults who are HIV+ has extremely good results. Read the study below.

Low-Intensity Therapy in Adults with Burkitt's Lymphoma

Here are a couple of articles about this rare type of lypmhoma. 

Lymphoblastic Lymphoma

Note: Lymphoblastic Lymphoma is very similar to ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia) and is treated the same. Be sure to research ALL for additional information.

Other types of aggressive lymphoma

The following are very rare types of aggressive lymphoma which we do not have further information about. Please visit our Advanced Search page where you can search prestigious medical journals for information about these types.

  • Hepatosplenic gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma  
  • Subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma   
  • Enteropathy-type intestinal T-cell lymphoma  
  • Adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia (HTLV 1+)  
  • Anaplastic large cell lymphoma, primary systemic type
  • Aggressive NK-cell leukaemia