Hodgkin lymphoma: the main thing is not to lose time. The story of struggle, lost time, great hope and desire to live, a patient of the National Medical Research Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

The hero of today’s story is a young girl Lilia from the DPR, who came to the A. Tsyb MRRC –  branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the “National Medical Research Radiological Centre” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. For seven years she has been fighting her main enemy, Hodgkin lymphoma:

“I accidentally felt an enlarged lymph node when I was rubbing my neck,” says Lilia. “I immediately turned to a therapist.” I was prescribed antibiotics – the doctor did not suggest anything serious, because at that time I was only 24 years old.

For a long time, Lilia was being treated, without knowing why, even without suggestions that her illness had a clear face. What could be scary about enlarged lymph nodes?

But they are precisely the sign of a terrible disease: “All lymphomas are divided into two large groups – Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin. Hodgkin lymphoma is a disease of the young.

Often, this disease affects people aged 15 to 35 years, but there are exceptions – sometimes the disease also affects those who are older, says an oncologist at the department of radiation and drug treatment of hemoblastoses of the A.Tsyb MRRC Artem Vovchenko.

– In addition to enlarged lymph nodes, you should pay attention to increased sweating – especially at night, as well as severe itching and unexplained weight loss. If you discover these symptoms, you should definitely seek specialized help from an oncologist or hematologist,” says Artem Andreevich. Blood tests, lymph node biopsy, and CT diagnostics help establish the correct diagnosis. In some cases, a bone marrow biopsy is required.

Lilia was wasting precious time, and the disease was progressing. Soon the diagnosis became known. The girl began treatment: “Over the course of seven years, I repeatedly underwent chemotherapy, because time after time the tests showed relapses of the disease. All this is due to lost time. Hodgkin lymphoma develops very quickly,” the patient continues the story.

Doesn’t chemotherapy guarantee recovery?

Hodgkin lymphoma is treated in the early stages by administering a combination of chemotherapy medication, and most patients go into long-term remission.

All these years Lily did not lose hope. Seven years of struggle, fear, but unconditional faith that the disease can be overcome: “After all, this is the most important thing – to believe. And when you believe, you see possibilities. That’s what happened to me.” When doctors in the DPR realized that chemotherapy only helped for a while, Liliya was offered to go to Obninsk to the A. Tsyb MRRC – after all, this is where the bone marrow transplantation (BMT) department opened at the beginning of this year.

Now the patient is preparing for a bone marrow transplant procedure, one of the most effective treatments for lymphoproliferative diseases.

“First, the patient receives high-dose chemotherapy, which completely suppresses his bone marrow. Then the patient is intravenously injected with a suspension of his own hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which were collected in advance; they gradually populate his bone marrow and restore hematopoiesis,” says Artem Andreevich.

New branch of the A.Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre is equipped with comfortable single rooms and a special HEPA filter.

You can make an appointment with a hematologist at the Center by calling:

8 (800) 250-87-00

Receiving letters: tkm@mrrc.obninsk.ru

Press Service of National Medical Radiology Research Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation