If you exhibit signs of Hodgkin’s disease, your doctor will probably check you for a less serious, more common infection first. Hodgkin’s disease shares many symptoms with infections and other illnesses. In fact, in many cases the doctor will prescribe antibiotics to shrink the lymph nodes. If the lymph nodes do not shrink in reaction to the medicine, then testing will commence.
Your doctor will perform a biopsy of the lymph tissue to diagnose Hodgkin’s disease.
For people diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease at Stage I (early detection), the five-year survival rate is 90 to 95 percent. For people diagnosed at Stage IV (late detection), the five-year survival rate is about 80 percent.
Most people with Hodgkin’s are treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or a combination of both. Ninety percent of Hodgkin’s patients are cured with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In rare cases, bone marrow transplant is used to treat the disease.
Because having Hodgkin’s disease means that your immune system does not work properly, survivors of the disease should keep abreast of vaccinations and seek treatment for all infections.
