Blood and Lymphatic System Terms

A slowly progressing disease in which too many white blood cells (not lymphocytes) are made in the bone marrow.

A progressive, chronic disease in which the bone marrow is replaced by fibrous tissue and blood is made in organs such as the liver and the spleen, instead of in the bone marrow.

Slow growing blood cancers whose cells mature far enough to function, which is why they are so often found by accident.

This slow-progressing blood cancer results from an acquired genetic change that causes the bone marrow to overproduce white blood cells.

A slowly progressing type of myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disease in which too many myelomonocytes (a type of white blood cell) are in the bone marrow, crowding out other normal blood cells…

Refers to the early stages of chronic myelogenous leukemia or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

A closed loop that delivers oxygen and fuel to every cell and carries away what those cells no longer need.

The most common type of Hodgkin lymphoma, which is a cancer of the immune system.

Cells that look mature and behave uselessly accumulate for years, which is why a diagnosis often arrives long before any treatment does.

An indolent (slow-growing) cancer in which immature lymphocytes (white blood cells) are found in the blood and bone marrow and/or in the lymph nodes.

CML is a slow progressing blood cancer marked by overproduction of white blood cells, most often driven by a specific chromosomal abnormality.

A marrow disorder sitting between two families of blood disease, defined by a stubbornly high count of one white cell type.

Treatment to reduce lymphedema (swelling caused by a buildup of lymph fluid in tissue).

A rare form of lymphoma (cancer that begins in cells of the immune system) in which different types of lymphoma cells occur at the same time.

A machine used to keep blood and lymph flowing by pushing air through bands or sleeves that are placed on the arms or legs.

Lymphoma in which the lymph nodes containing cancer are next to each other.

A test that finds antibodies clinging invisibly to red cells, by adding a second antibody that clumps them into something visible.

Four initials from an older era of lymphoma treatment, built by swapping out the harshest drug in the regimen that came before.

An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Three drug initials that have outlasted one of the drug names they stand for, and three letters that mean something else entirely elsewhere.