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Indolent Lymphomas

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Concise Guide to Hematology

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Abstract

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) may be aggressive or indolent (“low-grade”). The paradox is that aggressive lymphomas are potentially curable, and patients who do not respond to initial therapy have a worse prognosis and short survival time. In contrast, the majority of patients with indolent lymphoma are not curable, respond to many different therapeutic interventions, and live a long period of time. Indolent follicular lymphomas arise from cells that populate lymph nodes and the bone marrow but may also involve extranodal sites. The World Health Organization (WHO) classification does not divide lymphomas by grade, and because they are not indolent, the preferred name used is “small B-cell lymphomas” in the most recent classification. The small B-cell lymphomas discussed in this section include follicular lymphoma (FL) (follicular lymphoma, in situ follicular lymphoma, duodenal-type FL, and predominantly diffuse follicular lymphoma with 1p36 deletion), nodal marginal zone lymphoma, splenic marginal zone lymphoma, extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström macroglobulinemia, and primary cutaneous follicle center lymphoma. The updated and revised edition of the 2008 WHO classification was published in a paper in 2016 with a revised edition of the book released in 2017 (Swerdlow et al. WHO classification of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Lyon: IARC, 2008; Swerdlow et al. Blood 127:2375–2390, 2016). The prognosis and treatment are dependent upon the histology, stage, amount or bulk of disease, symptoms, and other factors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mayo Clinic, Division of Hematology, Rochester, MN, USA

    Thomas M. Habermann

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  1. Thomas M. Habermann
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Correspondence to Thomas M. Habermann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Hillard M. Lazarus

  2. Department of Medicine, University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Alvin H. Schmaier

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Habermann, T.M. (2019). Indolent Lymphomas. In: Lazarus, H., Schmaier, A. (eds) Concise Guide to Hematology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97873-4_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97873-4_31

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97873-4

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