Diagnostic knowledge you need to know before treatment of malignant lymphoma

Malignant lymphoma is a malignant tumor that originates in lymph nodes or other lymphoid tissues. In the early stages, it is often characterized by painless and progressive swelling of superficial lymph nodes without obvious causes, and should be diagnosed promptly.

1. Imaging examination and serological examination are important auxiliary examination methods, but they cannot be used as the basis for the final diagnosis. Pathological biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosing malignant lymphoma.

2. The pathological diagnosis method of malignant lymphoma is mainly HE staining morphology + immunohistochemistry examination. For difficult patients, genetic diagnosis and flow cytometry diagnosis can be added. The commonly used pathological diagnosis standard is the WHO 2001 malignant lymphoma classification standard.

3. Bone marrow puncture cytology is an important diagnostic method for distinguishing lymphoma from other types of leukemia. Some lymphomas can be diagnosed based on bone marrow and blood pictures, while some patients who are misdiagnosed as lymphoma by lymph node biopsy may be found to have other types of leukemia after bone marrow puncture cytology.

4. Before chemotherapy, the patient's physical condition should be examined, mainly including blood, urine, stool routine, liver and kidney function, blood sugar, electrolytes, electrocardiogram, mediastinal CT, abdominal B-ultrasound, LDH and LDH3, β2 microglobulin, immunoglobulin and bone marrow examination. It should be noted that the absence of abnormalities in routine chest X-rays does not mean that the mediastinal lymph nodes are not enlarged.

5. The Ann Arbor or Cotswolds staging system is currently commonly used for the staging of malignant lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma occurring in special tissues and organs may use dedicated staging systems.