Blood and Lymphatic System Terms

Marginal zone lymphoma is a slow growing B-cell blood cancer arising in lymph tissue, occurring in several distinct anatomical forms.

One of a group of aggressive (fast-growing) non-Hodgkin lymphomas that begin in mature T lymphocytes (T cells that have matured in the thymus gland and gone to other lymphatic sites in the body…

A monoclonal antibody that is being studied in the treatment of some lymphomas.

A monoclonal antibody that is being studied in the treatment of certain lymphoproliferative disorders and psoriasis.

A lymph node located above the collar bone and between the center of the body and a line drawn through the nipple to the shoulder.

A thin, tube-like instrument used to examine the tissues and lymph nodes in the area between the lungs.

A short operation through a small cut above the breastbone, giving direct access to the lymph nodes lying around the windpipe.

Mesenchymal describes embryonic connective tissue and the cells derived from it that can develop into bone, cartilage, fat, and blood related tissue.

A substance being studied in the treatment of some leukemias and lymphomas.

Removal of the whole breast together with the armpit lymph nodes, sparing the chest muscles the older operation sacrificed.

A laboratory finding rather than an illness: identical B cells circulating in numbers too low to count as leukemia.

Time in the bloodstream is a transit stage rather than the job; the real work begins once the cell settles in tissue.

An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used alone or with radiation therapy to treat Hodgkin lymphoma.

Despite a name suggesting fungal origin, mycosis fungoides is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a cancer of white blood cells.

High-dose chemotherapy that kills cells in the bone marrow, including cancer cells.

Refers to myeloblasts (a type of immature cell that forms in the bone marrow).

The marrow is busy but unproductive, making faulty cells that die before reaching the blood, so counts fall while the marrow stays crowded.

Scar tissue crowds out the marrow, so blood cell production migrates to the spleen and liver, which swell as they take over.

Myelogenous describes anything arising from or resembling bone marrow and is often used interchangeably with myeloid when naming certain leukemias.

One of the two great branches of blood cell production, and the branch that supplies everything except lymphocytes.