What they said in the interview
On the occasion of today’s event of the hematology company, we are hosting the Professor of Hematology at “LAIKO” Hospital, K. Theodoros Vasilakopoulos to talk about Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
D. Economou: Professor, Good morning!
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Good morning! Thank you very much for this opportunity to hear things that are not usually heard in the general public..
D. Economou: So what is this Non Hodgkin lymphoma as it is called?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Before we say what Non Hodgkin is, we must say what lymphomas are. Lymphomas are malignancies of the lymphatic tissue, meaning they are what would normally be implied by the colloquial term lymph node cancer. In practice, of course, lymph node cancer means having malignancies in the lymph nodes. Very often this is due to an organ cancer of the lung, breast, prostate or anything that has metastasized to the lymph nodes
D. Economou: The cancer is not primary, that is..
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Lymphoma is the primary cancer of the lymph nodes that develops in the lymph nodes, not necessarily glands – it can be generalized cancer. Of course, apart from the lymph nodes which are the main focus of the disease, it can affect any other structure of the human body and resemble any disease.
D. Economou: Are there many people, Professor, who suffer from this disease?
Th.Vassilakopoulos: Yes, there are many people who suffer because many get well and therefore continue to have the label of having lymphoma while they are well or the lymphoma may progress very slowly.
D. Economou: So what are the symptoms now that we understand that we might have something like this?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: But let’s say what is the probability of someone getting it..
D. Economou: Of course!
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Well, in principle, lymphomas are of 2 types, they are Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas
A. Pavlopoulos: What does one mean and what does the other mean?
Th.Vassilakopoulos: Hodkin’s lymphoma is a specific type of lymphoma that has been well described since the previous century, that is, before 1900, which mainly appears in the lymph nodes and is a specific entity. Anything that is not Hodgkin but is lymphoma is non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are many types.
A. Pavlopoulos: So uncharted?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Not so uncharted it is well classified, of course there is room for improvement.
A. Pavlopoulos: Which is more easily treated, Professor?
Th.Vassilakopoulos: It’s not a question of competition and both can be treated, but non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to talk about what it is and how it is treated and what the prognosis is, we need to know exactly the specific subtype. And the subtypes can be any of the 70s, let’s say. So we need to know why we are talking about not just non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma..
D. Economou: So living with this disease or treating it afterwards do you have quality of life? What is the life expectancy?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Life expectancy again depends on the histological type. There are lymphomas, mainly high-malignancy lymphomas which, if treated, have a very high chance of becoming permanently cured.
A. Pavlopoulos: And how are they treated, Professor?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: They are treated with chemotherapy and usually in combination with immunotherapy with single classical antibodies which have caused a revolution in the last 20 years.
D. Economou: Do blood tests diagnose this? How do you see that you have such a thing?
Th. Vasilakopoulos: No.. Here we have to make a distinction.. Blood tests can give evidence for the diagnosis but they may not. Many patients with lymphoma have nothing in the blood tests. Others have findings which may to be from unspecific to highly characteristic. But we should not confuse this with the fact that there is a preventive test – that is, there is no test that we can do to prevent getting lymphoma.
D. Economou: So this will also come suddenly one night… we don’t understand how it will come…
Th. Vasilakopoulos: This is usually how it comes.. Usually in an unsuspecting person, it affects a lymph node or may have a prolonged fever..
A. Pavlopoulos: Let the day come when you come out and tell us that we have won these – Let that holy day come..
Th. Vasilakopoulos: The truth is that this holy day for most patients has come. Most patients get well!
D. Economou: That’s it!
Th.Vassilakopoulos: The problem is that there are some patients who currently cannot get better..
D. Economou: Be well Professor! Good luck!
Th. Vasilakopoulos: Thank you very much! Be well!
Listen to the excerpt of the interview
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