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PrintWhat is Hodgkin's lymphoma?
Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of lymph tissue found in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, bone marrow and other sites, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. A first sign of this cancer is often an enlarged lymph node, which appears without a known cause, and the disease can spread to nearby lymph nodes. It may eventually spread to the spleen, liver, bone marrow or other organs. The cause is not known. Hodgkin's lymphoma is most common among people ages 15-35 and 50-70.
Stats: An estimated 139,860 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2009. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma account for 9.5 percent of the 1,479,350 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year*.
Overall incidence rates per 100,000 people for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are almost identical for data reported in 2008 and 2009 (leukemia was 12.2 in 2009 versus 12.3 in 2008; NHL was 19.5 each year; Hodgkin lymphoma was 2.8 each year; and myeloma was 5.6 each year).
Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 53,240 people in the United States this year. These blood cancers will account for nearly 9.5 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2009 based on the 562,340 total cancer-related deaths.
Every 10 minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 146 people each day, or more than six people every hour. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under age 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1996 to 2005 (the most recent data available).
How to help: Visit www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/hm_lls.
*Facts and statistics from “Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma Facts 2009-2010,” June 2009.
