HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma and how it is treatedAbout AIDS-Related Lymphoma

The AIDS was described for the first time in 1981. The first definitions of AIDS actually included some opportunistic infections, central nervous system lymphomas and Kaposi sarcoma. The existing definition of AIDS was revised in 1987 by Center for Disease Control & Prevention to now include the human immune- deficiency virus that infected patients having aggressive B cells NHL. The AIDS epidemic has come along with increased incidences of NHL and nowadays account for between 2 and 3 percent of the new cases of AIDS being diagnosed today across America, Europe and Australia.

Pathologically, lymphomas related to AIDS now comprise of a very narrow spectrum of different types of histologic with a majority being the aggressive type of B- cell tumors. Such include the diffuse B cell lymphoma, small noncleaved lymphoma, which could either be Burkitt or just Burkitt like and B cells immunoblastic lymphoma.

Categories of HIV associated lymphomas

There are different categories of HIV associated lymphomas that you should beware of. There is the aggressive B cells lymphoma which represents about 20 percent of all cases of NHL in AIDS patients. Others are the primary effusion lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and plasmablastc multicentric castleman NHL disease. The primary effusion lymphoma is associated greatly with the Kaposi sarcoma associated human herpes virus. Generally speaking, the clinical settings and also the response for treating patients having AIDS related lymphoma disease is usually very different compared to the treatment given to non- HIV patients having lymphoma. An HIV infected individual having aggressive lymphoma normally presents the advanced stage of the disease which is frequently extranodal.

The common extranodal sites usually include the bone marrow, meninges, liver and gastro intestinal tract. However, there are some other unusual sites as well such as the anus, bile duct, heart, gingival and muscles. Clinical course is usually more aggressive since the disease is not just aggressive and extensive but also responds less to chemotherapy. Cytopenias and immunodeficiency is very common among patients in the initial presentation and are usually exacerbated when chemotherapy is administered. Malignancy treatment usually increases the risk for opportunistic infectors, which can really compromise the provision of adequate treatment.

HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma

There have been multiple reviews done for Hodgkin lymphoma for the patients at risk of getting AIDS. However, CDC is yet to include this in its definition and more research is required. Ideally speaking this condition usually presents itself in a very aggressive fashion and often involves bone marrow and extranodal. One of the distinctive features of the HIV associated Hodgkin lymphoma is usually the lower frequency for mediastinal adenopathy in comparison to the non HIV related Hodgkin lymphoma. Ideally speaking, most of the patients included in the series showed a mixed cellularity or the lymphocyte depleted condition, which expresses Epstein Barr Virus.