In the UK there are approximately three cases of Hodgkin lymphoma per 100,000 per year and in the western world it predominantly affects young adults with the peak age range being between 18 and 35.
In Grampian we see 15-20 new cases per year. You don’t tend to see it so often in the middle years but it reappears again in the over-60s as a second peak in the incidence.
It presents with painless, enlarged, lymph glands which tend to feel “rubbery”, most commonly in the upper part of the body such as the neck and the centre of the chest.
Some patients describe having so-called “B symptoms”, including loss of weight and drenching night sweats. Patients are divided into having early stage disease or advanced stage disease. The former are treated with a combination of two to four cycles of chemotherapy and radiotherapy while advanced stage patients are likely to be treated with six to eight cycles of chemotherapy. The key thing is that the outcome is extremely good and the majority of patients are cured first time round.
Additionally, the 20% to 30% of people who relapse also have a good outlook and can be cured with further cycles of more intensive chemotherapy, followed by stem cell transplantation in some patients.
A recently-developed therapy directly targeted at the Hodgkin cell, brentuximab vedotin, has also improved the outlook for multiply relapsed patients.