How is follicular lymphoma diagnosed?

How is follicular lymphoma diagnosed?

Follicular lymphoma is diagnosed based off a biopsy of a lymph node. There are typically three major ways that we can get tissue from a lymph node. One is called a fine needle aspiration or an FNA. And that's when a small needle is, taken. And they essentially kind of suck out some of the cells and look at them under a microscope.

That is not the ideal way to diagnose a lymphoma. Because it doesn't usually give us all the information we need.

Then there's something called a core needle biopsy where interventional, typically interventional radiology, sometimes a surgeon will often use an ultrasound or CT scan to help guide them. Get a biopsy from the lymph node. And it'll be what is essentially like a small chunk of that lymph node to look at the tissue.

And then the pathologist does a number of different tests to determine, the type of if there's lymphoma and the type of lymphoma, then there's also incisional or excisional where there's actually a surgical procedure to either remove a lymph node or take out a larger piece of the lymph node for the pathologist to look under the microscope.

Very occasionally, it may be diagnosed by a bone marrow biopsy, where a patient has low blood count and somebody does a bone marrow to see what the area that's making the cells shows. And the diagnosis may be made that way as well.