Why is refractory lymphoma difficult to treat

Lymphoma is a systemic disease that is widely distributed in the human body and can affect any organ in the body. Because lymphoma exhibits a variety of morphological characteristics, clinical manifestations, different treatment responses and prognoses, it is difficult to treat some patients, which is called "refractory lymphoma". The reasons for its difficulty in treatment may include the following factors.

The direct cause of the disease is still unclear

Although it is currently believed that immune deficiency, family history, history of exposure to chemicals such as pesticides, and genetics are the inducing factors of lymphoma, the direct cause of lymphoma is still not very clear.

Difficult to diagnose in time

Since lymph nodes are distributed throughout the body, the symptoms of lymphoma vary depending on the organs invaded by the cancer cells, which makes it difficult to make an accurate diagnosis at an early stage, thus delaying the adoption of effective treatment. At the same time, attention should also be paid to the mutual differentiation between lymphoma and lymph node metastasis.

Accurate pathological classification is difficult

Lymphoma is a group of heterogeneous diseases with different morphological characteristics, immune phenotypes, biological laws, onset speed and treatment response. It is important to clarify the pathological classification in order to formulate the correct treatment plan. However, due to the diversity of this disease, its classification is quite complicated, and the misdiagnosis rate can be as high as 25%.

Lack of effective treatment

Except for a very small number of patients with localized low-grade malignant lymphoma who can be cured by local radiotherapy, most lymphoma patients often present with systemic diseases due to hematogenous spread and extranodal lymphatic tissue invasion at the time of diagnosis, and need comprehensive treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Despite this, comprehensive treatment can only alleviate the disease for these lymphoma patients and cannot achieve the fundamental goal of cure. In addition, the disease may recur or worsen during the treatment process due to problems such as non-standard and unsafe treatment.