In Cuba, it is estimated that the incidence of lymphomas in recent decades, a condition that represents about four percent of the cases of cancer in about four percent of adult cancer cases and about 10 percent of pediatric oncology.
Its very incidence has led to an increased interest in research and treatment of this disease, hence the need for specialist of first degree in Imaging, Dadiagna Duvalón Soto, to investigate how to research into how Computed Axial Tomography (CT) can provide a more accurate diagnosis of more precise diagnosis of lymphomas is possible.
According to the also first and second degree specialist in General Comprehensive Medicine (MGI), “since lymphomas are a group of malignant neoplasms that belong to the lymphoid system. Globally, there is an increase in this pathology, so much so that, according to international studies, around 200 thousand people die each year from this cause and around 200 thousand are diagnosed with lymphomas.
The subject of my thesis was the Value of Computerized Axial Tomography in the diagnosis of lymphomas, since I studied at the Lucia Iñiguez Landin Clinical-Surgical Hospital where we saw many cases of lymphomas”.
Holguin researches on the value of CT in lymphoma diagnosis
Tomographic studies are a useful tool for the diagnosis of lymphomas by obtaining detailed images in cross-sections of the body, which facilitates the detection of enlarged lymph nodes, as well as the evaluation of other organs and tissues in search of signs of the disease.
In this sense, according to the assistant professor, “CT as a study allows us to visualize the damage, see its characteristics, the lymph node extension and the lesions. After graduating, I joined the pediatric hospital Octavio de la Concepción y de la Pedraja, where an increase of lymphomas in the first years of life was observed.
When reviewing the bibliography it is found that Hopkinsson’s lymphomas are the ones with the best prognosis, because out of a hundred cases, about 80 percent resolve with treatment. It is diagnosed in three or four children per one hundred thousand.
It is a pathology that often goes undiagnosed because it has specific symptoms that speak of a general syndrome, such as fever, chills, decay and the appearance of lymphadenopathies. Although the latter are not always malignant, sometimes they are associated with inflammatory processes and therefore not in all cases they are given the value they deserve”.
Holguin researches on the value of CT in lymphoma diagnosis
Thus, CT is an important tool in both the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with lymphoma, capable of providing detailed information on the location and particularities of the disease, an essential principle for planning effective treatment. For this reason, Duvalón Soto proposes this study in order to the importance of tomographic studies, especially multislice ones, in the timely diagnosis of the disease, is well known.
“As lymphomas increase the size of the organs in the abdominal cavity and sometimes we see a large liver or other organ and we do not suspect that we may be in the presence of this disease, since an early inflammation of the lymph node chains and the characteristics of the adenopathies may of the lymph nodes and the characteristics of the adenopathies can alert us to the suspicion of this disease,” he concluded.
CT is especially useful in identifying the presence of tumor masses in internal organs, evaluating the response to treatment and detecting recurrence of the disease. In addition, it can help guide biopsies of lymph nodes or other tissues to obtain samples that will be analyzed by a pathologist and thus confirm the diagnosis of lymphoma. Because of the relevance of this proposal, the researcher was awarded a prize in the specialty thesis tribunal, in the most recent edition of the Provincial Annual Health Award.
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