Cancerwise

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lymphoma, you might think all you need to know is whether it’s Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin. But is that distinction enough to move forward confidently with a treatment plan? Or, is there more you should find out first? 

Lymphoma specialists Sairah Ahmed, M.D., and Jason Westin, M.D., weighed in on this topic during a recent episode of UT MD Anderson’s Cancerwise podcast. Here are three reasons why getting an accurate lymphoma diagnosis is so important. 

There are more than 140 different subtypes

Getting an accurate lymphoma diagnosis is critical because there are so many different subtypes. Hodgkin lymphoma only has four. But non-Hodgkin lymphoma has roughly 140. Some subtypes have additional varieties even beyond that. 

Why does this matter? 

“It’s kind of like someone saying, ‘I like music,’” explains Westin. “Well, which type do you like? Classical or heavy metal? There’s a wide variety of music genres out there — and some have pretty significant differences between them. So, if somebody just says, ‘You have lymphoma,’ that’s not really enough information to go on.”