Small lymph nodes and lymphoma?

Are swollen lymph nodes associated with lymphoma usually larger than 1 cm and do they typically grow over a span of time?

Small lymph nodes and lymphoma?
When my mother got Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma about one year ago, the tumor near the back of her upper jaw grew quite rapidly. Another involved lymph node in her neck showed almost no growth...





There are about 30 different types of lymphoma, and some involve fast growing tumors, while others grow quite slowly. The faster growing tumors respond better to treatment and show better 5 year survival and non-recurrence rates.





Having said all that, simple immune system responses are far more common reasons for lymph nodes to swell. As a diabetic with a messed up immune system, I almost always have a couple swollen and/or tender glands...





If you are worried, talk to the triage nurse at your clinic and she will help you decide if you really need to be tested for cancer.


Best,


Ed, RN
Reply:that is one symptom however most the time swollen lymph nodes just mean that they are fighting off an infection
Reply:Yes, swollen lymph nodes are associated with lymphoma. They are typically rubbery feeling when lymphoma is involved, instead of being rock hard. More begin to crop up over time.
Reply:lymphoma is more than just swollen lymph nodes, there are other symptoms greater than them, usually are multiple, not tender, they don't tend to be greater than 1 cm, most of the times when they are developed as a part of a lymphoma the person has a swollen spleen also and anemia/low platlets and abnormal white cells count...the nodes can increase their size as well but the greater ones tend to be inside your chest and/or abdomen and they are only seen with a CT scan.
Reply:I need more info. You need to see a doctor who will test you and give you the right answer to your questions. I don't want you to worry unnecessary unless a test results tell other wise. you could be suffering from some kind of infection and needs antibiotics.
Reply:Swollen lymph nodes are associated with lymphoma , and are ranging in size but that doesn't mean it is lymphoma it could be just an infection .


there are three grades for lymphoma grade one being the slowest growing(untreatable), grade two(treatable),and grade three being the fastest and harder to treat
Reply:Hey Scooter -





My wife has stage 4 Lymphoma. Before she knew she had it, she read a letter her pulmonary doctor was sending to her internist. An MRI of her chest (lungs) also showed that all the lymph nodes across her chest were enlarged. We couldn't feel anything, even though see was rib thin.





Also, her spleen %26amp; her liver were enlarged. She had no pain back then, except in her lower back, where it was really bad. She also itched like crazy. We had no idea these were signs of lymphoma (combined with other stuff).





She was also anemic, and nothing was helping that, so combined with everything else, she was diagnosed. She has an aggressive type, but she can't have chemo. When I asked the doctor why not, he said "because she'd be dead in a week." We wanted honesty, we got it.





She's bedridden now, but she never gets depressed. Last week, she realized she could actually feel her lymph nodes in her arms - not under her arms - along the arm, like the inside of the forearm, near the elbow. Plus on the upper arm, on the outside. They are small, but they "creep her out," as she says.





Usually, for staging, the docs check the position of it on your body. And the diaphragm is the center, or the divider. Say the right side of your body starts out with it. If it then jumps over your diaphragm to the left side, you have advanced a stage. Or it can be up %26amp; down - you have it in your upper body - then it jumps down to the groin area, etc., you have advanced a stage.





Then, once your organs become involved - the liver or the spleen, or both - you have advanced even further. When my wife was diagnosed, she was already stage 4 (she's decades way too young)





Anyway, forget about the size of the lymph nodes - it's not that which is what determines if you have lymphoma. It's a bunch of things.





You probably have an infection; but if you're worried about it, it can't hurt to bring it up to your doc. I hope you don't.





Good luck to you.