If one's lymph nodes are enlarged, coupled with fatigue, fever and weight loss, then it is a sure sign of Follicular Lymphoma non hodgkins. The swelling of the lymph nodes is not painful and hence it takes time to detect it. The swelling is usually in the armpit, groin or neck areas. The loss of weight will occur without any reason and the body weight will decrease rapidly over a period of 60 days. The fever also will be either continuously raging or will come and go, without any verifiable reason. Other symptoms might include over sweating in the night, itchy feeling over the entire body, loss of hunger, weakness, and feeling short of breath with swelling on the neck and face.
When it symptoms occur it is advisable to take a biopsy of the affected lymph node. The pathologist will observe the affected tissue under a microscope, and will find out whether there are any characteristics of lymphoma in the sample. If the diagnosis is positive, a series of different tests are performed using markers, to find out the potency of the disease and the possible course of treatments. The extent of Follicular lymphoma can be known by doing tests on blood samples and bone marrow. CT scans are also taken of the affected parts.
All these tests will provide a clear picture of how much this disease has spread in the body. The spread of the disease is not limited to lymph nodes and can affect bone marrow and different organs. To quantify the spread of the disease there a standard of stages from one to four; stage four, being the most advanced. The slow growth rate and least painful symptoms makes this disease very difficult to detect and usually it is detected when it has reached the third or fourth stage. The nature of the disease is such, that it will suddenly flare up and also regress equally fast, and this cycle is repeated many times. Even a person suffering the disease in the fourth stage, has a chance to live for 8 to 10 years with the proper treatments.
If the Follicular Lymphoma non hodgkins is detected early, then radiation therapy is known to arrest the disease and even effect a cure. If the stage is very early and is low grade, then actually no treatment is advised. Later stages call for the use of Chemotherapy, which is considered most efficacious. Other treatments like Biological therapy using Rituximab and Monoclonal antibody therapy are the other options which are available.
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