FOX Facts: Indolent Lymphoma

Indolent Lymphoma: A type of lymphoma that tends to grow and spread slowly, and has few symptoms. Also called low-grade lymphoma.

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of cancer.

• Lymphoma is a general term for cancers that develop in the lymphatic system.

• Hodgkin's disease is one type of lymphoma.

• All other lymphomas are grouped together and are called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Lymphomas account for about 5 percent of all cases of cancer in this country.

• Doctors have used a variety of terms to classify the many different types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Most often, they are grouped by how the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly they are likely to grow and spread.

• Aggressive lymphomas, also known as intermediate and high-grade lymphomas, tend to grow and spread quickly and cause severe symptoms.

• Indolent lymphomas, also referred to as low-grade lymphomas, tend to grow quite slowly and cause fewer symptoms.

• Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the most common treatments for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• Bone marrow transplantation, biological therapies, or surgery are sometimes used.

• Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.

• The most common symptom of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a painless swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck, underarm, or groin.

• There will be about 63,190 new cases of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in U.S. in 2007

• About 18,660 people will die of NHL in U.S. in 2007

• NHL is more common in men than in women

• Whites are affected by NHL more often than African Americans or Asian Americans.

• A person's risk of getting NHL during his or her lifetime is 1 in 50

Sources: National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society