The lymph system is a series of lymph nodes and vessels that move lymph fluid through the body. Lymph fluids contain infection-fighting white blood cells. Lymph nodes act as filters, capturing and destroying bacteria and viruses to prevent infection from spreading.
While the lymph system typically protects your body, lymph cells called lymphocytes can become cancerous. The names for cancers that occur in the lymph system are lymphomas.
Doctors classify more than 70 cancer types as lymphomas. Lymphomas can affect any portion of the lymphatic system, including:
- bone marrow
- thymus
- spleen
- tonsils
- lymph nodes
Doctors typically divide lymphomas into two categories: Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is the most common type of lymphoma. While it can occur at any age, most people who develop the illness are older adults. There many types of NHL, all of which are divided into two major groups: B cell lymphoma and T cell lymphoma.
B cell lymphoma is much more common. It accounts for about 80 percent of all NHL cases. It includes:
- diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
- primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma
- follicular lymphoma
- small lymphocytic lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- marginal zone lymphoma
- mantle cell lymphoma
- Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia
- Burkitt lymphoma
T cell lymphoma accounts for approximately 15 percent of all cases of NHL in the United States. The most common types of T cell lymphoma include:
- peripheral T cell lymphoma not otherwise specified
- anaplastic large cell lymphoma
- angioimmunoblastic lymphoma
- cutaneous T cell lymphoma
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