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Canadian Max Parrot has just won the slopestyle snowboarding gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics. At 27, this athlete is a cancer survivor, affected by Hodgkin’s disease in 2019. What is this type of cancer? What are its symptoms and treatment? The answers of Dr Julien Lenglet, hematologist at the private hospital of Antony, near Paris.
What is Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?
Julien Lenglet: Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a rare cancer that affects the lymphatic system and therefore the lymph nodes. It mainly concerns two age groups: young people between 15 and 30 years old and a second peak in the elderly after 65 years old. It is a cancer with a good prognosis whose causes are unknown.
What are the symptoms that should alert?
Julien Lenglet: It is manifested by the presence of one or more balls located rather in the upper part of the body. It can be in the neck, under the arms, inside the thorax… The lower half is a rarer location. Other symptoms are night sweats, which wet the sheets for several nights in a row. Patients also have less appetite and lose weight. Finally, they also have itchy skin, but without the presence of any dermatological condition.
Dr Julien Lenglet: Initially, following the description of these symptoms, the attending physician will prescribe a CT scan to the patient. This will reveal the presence of balls 2 to 3 cm in diameter, which are swollen but painless lymph nodes. The diagnosis of lymphoma is made by biopsy of these nodes, then the patient is referred to a hematologist.
What are the treatments ?
Dr Julien Lenglet: The latter will carry out an assessment of the extension of the disease by a Pet-scan and the treatment will be associated with the severity of the disease. The larger it is, the heavier the treatment will be. It consists of chemotherapy alone or sometimes combined with radiotherapy. If the patient is young, he can be offered the conservation of his germ cells: freezing of oocytes for young women or cryopreservation of sperm in young men. The prognosis is excellent: more than nine out of ten patients recover, even if a heavier treatment with autologous bone marrow is sometimes necessary.
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What is the follow-up of this disease after the treatment?
Dr Julien Lenglet: A follow-up every six months the first year then once a year is then established. And after five years, the patient is considered completely cured.