France and the World Day of lymphoma, a cancer still unknown

France participated in the World Day of lymphoma. The association hopes France lymphoma, which organized the event, has launched a campaign this opportunity to address the information deficit unknown cancer.
.. Yet common in children
Third most common childhood cancer and the sixth in terms of cancer incidence, lymphoma affects about 150,000 people in France, where 12,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. This type of cancer is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells, particularly in the lymph nodes of the lymphatic system.

There are thirty lymphomas, classified in two categories: Hodgkin's lymphoma or Hodgkin's disease, the most famous form that represents a case of lymphoma seven, and non-Hodgkin lymphomas in which the number of new cases has almost tripled in twenty years.

The disease is not known to the general public. A survey conducted in 2006 among 504 patients with lymphoma, revealed at the time of diagnosis, more than half of the patients had never heard of and that nearly three-quarters were unaware that it was' cancer.

"France lags far behind in terms of information on lymphoma," said Dr. Philippe Solal-Céligny, a hematologist at the Centre Jean Bernard Le Mans and co-chair of the Scientific Committee of the Association France lymphoma hope. "While demand was urgent, patients had access, there is barely a year, only searchable on English sites brochures," he recalls.

To diagnose faster for better healing
To mark the event, the association has organized conferences in the main cities of France to explain to the public the disease and its management, to report on current research.

The association also distributed posters to GPs and hospitals, to educate the public with the message: "Lymphoma: the worst thing is not that it can be serious."

"Although the number of patients cured has doubled in ten years with the emergence of new classes of drugs, it is necessary that the lymphoma was diagnosed at the earliest, said Dr. Solal-Céligny. For the more aggressive lymphomas, the cure rate is 90%, provided that the diagnosis is early. "

"The persistence of a node for two to four weeks or rapid inflation, combined with weight loss, fever or night sweats are symptoms that should alert the patient and his doctor."