Six out of ten people diagnosed with lymphoma in Argentina It took six months to go to the doctor after the first symptom and an even higher percentage, 75%, were completely unaware of the signs of this cancer of the lymphatic system with a high cure rate associated with early detection, whose World Day is commemorated this Thursday.
The data comes from the Argentine section of a global survey carried out in 2018 by the Lymphoma Coalition, which was carried out in the country in alliance with the Asociación Civil Linfomas de Argentina (ACLA).
“Unlike other oncological diseases, such as lung cancer, which is related to smoking, in most lymphomas there is no trigger that one can prevent”The head of the Hematology Service of the British Hospital and former president of the Argentine Society of Hematology (SAH), Germán Stemmelim, explained to Télam.
And on the other hand, “for the vast majority of lymphomas do not have a hereditary burdento the point that it makes no sense to study the relatives of a patient to prevent lymphoma” as it happens with breast or colon cancer, two types of tumors for which they do have this type of history.
That’s why, Diagnosis is reached primarily by paying attention to the symptoms. that are not exclusive to this disease with 84 subtypes of lymphomas that can be subdivided into two large groups: Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
And the early detection is essential because, when it goes hand in hand with adequate treatment, “the healing is achieved in a percentage greater than 80%” in the case of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, while among non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma this prognosis varies with the more than 30 subtypes, but “the most frequent, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, are cured in approximately 65%,” he explained. Stemmelim.
Lymphoma is a type of cancer of the lymphatic system, that is, of the network of organs, nodes, ducts and lymphatic vessels that are responsible for fighting germs, forming part of the body’s immune response
“We seek to raise awareness among people who have certain symptoms that are visible to the naked eye but are often neglected because they are confused with other banal diseases such as the flu, although this does not mean that all lymphomas have these symptoms,” the president told Télam. of ACLA, Haydée González.
In fact, for several years the organization has been carrying out its “Stone Free to Lymphoma” campaignwith activities throughout the year but especially around the World Awareness Day that is commemorated every September 15.
“If you see enlarged nodes that do not hurt and are not due to an infection; if you have night sweats, persistent itching throughout the body, fever or low-grade fever; if you lose weight for no reason; if you feel chills; if you have a cough or dyspnea Generally, when you go to bed, you can (…) consult your usual doctor (…) Help us make this information more widely known so that we can find lymphoma faster,” says the main text of the campaign that accompanies celebrities who have gone through the disease.
“I never had any close contact with lymphoma, I studied it as one more topic, unlike hypertension and diabetes, which I paid more attention to because there is a family history,” Pergamin doctor Maximilano Morales told Télam, who was diagnosed in 2011 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Witness Case
Author of the testimonial book “From doctor to patient in a second” (2020) and a video with more than 2.5 million views that shows him at the very moment he was undergoing a bone marrow transplant, Morales admits that even though he was a doctor, he let him stay for the first consultation and it was his girlfriend at the time, also a doctor, who pushed him to do it.
“I remember making the comment, ‘This shitty ganglion won’t go away anymore!'” She immediately began to question me and when I told her that she had it for three weeks and it didn’t hurt, she told me ‘you have lymphoma,'” she said.
A few days later, one of his professors at the University of Rosario would be in charge of performing the CT scan, which was not auspicious and took him directly to the biopsy that confirmed the diagnosis.
At 36 years old and practicing as a doctor again, today Maximiliano is practically cured after six different types of chemotherapy protocols, an autologous transplant that did not work, and a bone marrow transplant that was successful, with his younger sister as a donor.
lymphoma It is a type of cancer of the lymphatic system, that is, of the network of organs, nodes, ducts and lymphatic vessels that are responsible for fighting germs, forming part of the body’s immune response.
The spleen and thymus (organs) make up the lymphatic system; the lymph nodes (such as the tonsils); the bone marrow and the adenoids (tissues): the mutation of the cells that compose them can lead to lymphoma.
Worldwide, this type of cancer affects one million people and in Argentina it has an estimated prevalence of 14,613 cases diagnosed in the last 5 yearsaccording to 2020 data from the Global Cancer Observatory (Globocan) of the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It is estimated that 4,579 lymphomas were diagnosed in Argentina that year and almost 2,000 people died from this disease.
Secondly, the incidence is increasing globally at a rate of 3% and a new diagnosis is said to occur every 90 seconds.
In fact, lymphoma Hodgkin’s is the third fastest growing type of cancer after melanoma and lung cancer.; while Hodgkin’s lymphoma is today the oncological disease with the highest incidence in young people and the third cause of death from cancer in children.
Stemmelim explained that The reasons for this growth are unknown.although “there are some causes that are well known, such as contracting certain infections, including HIV and immunosuppressive treatments given in the field of transplantation”, two conditions that “are associated with an increased risk of having a lymphoma” because the weakening of the immune system “can secondarily lead to the development of lymphoma.
And despite having an incidence comparable to that of cervical cancer (4,583 new diagnoses per year), It is one of the least known oncological diseases in the world.
More than prevention, the search of Maximiliano Morales in his viral posts, conferences and books is to help patients already diagnosed to go through the disease but also his medical professional colleagues, to humanize the doctor-patient relationship.
“I myself had a bad experience of patient medical approach when I was informed by telephone of the result of the biopsy with zero tact and I have heard many stories over the years as a result of a training that relegates the social, empathic part, to the point that sometimes you do not know if you’re talking to a doctor or a robot,” he said.
As for treatments, there are different types: chemotherapy, immunochemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, radiotherapy, the use of targeted drugs directed at the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease, and bone marrow transplantation.
Stemmelim explained that “the most significant advances recorded in recent years” in the development of new treatments are linked to the “stimulation of the patient’s own immune response against lymphoma”, as is the case with T-cell therapy with receptors chimeric antigens (CAR-T) and biospecific monoclonal antibodies (BiTEs).
