Diagnosis & Staging

For all types of NHL, an essential workup would include personal and family history, information about symptoms (B symptoms and peripheral lymphadenopathy), physical exam with attention to node-bearing areas, and to size of liver and spleen. Additionally, several tests listed below may be performed to confirm the diagnosis or assess for evidence of toxicity.^2-4

• Blood tests may include a complete blood count (CBC) with differential, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), pregnancy panel, and beta-2-microglobulin, in addition to infectious disease testing.
  1. A CBC measures the number and types of cells in the blood including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Low hemoglobin levels, along with low red blood cell count, hematocrit or platelet counts may indicate anemia which can occur when bone marrow does not produce enough red blood cells. A CBC may also show cytopenia, lymphocytosis, and thrombocytosis, which can be due to extensive bone marrow infiltration, hypersplenism from splenic involvement, or blood loss from gastrointestinal tract involvement.^2-4
  2. A CMP may also help identify tumor lysis syndrome, commonly in rapidly proliferative NHL such as Burkitt or lymphoblastic lymphoma. LDH levels may be elevated from high tumor burden or extensive infiltration of the liver.
  3. Beta-2-microglobulin is a protein found in blood and can be used to determine the extent of cancer in the body.⁴
  4. Infectious serology (Hepatitis B, C, and HIV) may indicate a particular subtype⁵
• Imaging includes PET/CT scan (including neck) with contrast, PET/CT scan and/or chest/abdominal/pelvic CT with contract of diagnostic quality, abdominal ultrasound, endoscopy/colonoscopy
• Bone marrow studies including bone marrow biopsy + aspirate, histology, cytology, immunophenotyping (IHC panel or cell surface marker analysis by flow cytometry with peripheral blood and/or biopsy specimen)
• Evidence of toxicity through evaluating creatinine clearance, uric acid, ECG/MUGA scan, cardiac ultrasound (before anthracyclines), pulmonary function (ASCT)
• Lumbar puncture is often reserved for those with a high risk of CNS involvement, ie, highly aggressive NHL (Burkitt lymphoma, DLBCL, peripheral T cell lymphoma, grade 3b FL, mantle cell lymphoma, precursor T or B lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive NHL), who have epidural, bone marrow, testicular, or paranasal sinus involvement, or at least two extranodal disease sites. CSF should be sent for both cytology and flow cytometry
• FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) is a molecular analysis used to count genes or chromosomes in cells and tissues

For all B-cell lymphomas, diagnosis is confirmed via excisional or incisional biopsy, and a fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy on its own is not considered suitable for initial diagnosis. A combination of core needle biopsy (preferably multiple biopsies) and FNA biopsies in conjunction with other techniques such as immunohistochemistry (IHC), flow cytometry, and molecular analysis for the detection of immunoglobulin gene rearrangements, karyotype, or FISH for major translocations) may be sufficient for diagnosis. Additionally, hematopathology review of all slides with at least one paraffin block representative of the tumor is required.² Additional diagnostic tests for each type of NHL may be required and information about these can be found in the Resources section.

However, for follicular lymphoma (FL), an FL International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) is used that considers risk factors to categorize patients as low (0-1 factor), intermediate (2 factors), and high (3-5 factors) risk. Factors include nodal sites (>4 lymph nodes), age (>60 years), serum marker (elevated LDH), staging (advanced Ann Arbor classification stage III-IV), and hemoglobin (<12 mg/dL) For patients requiring treatment, a revised FLIPI2 score incorporating beta-2-microglobulin, diameter of the largest lymph node, bone marrow involvement, and hemoglobin levels is available. An example of NHL staging by body location/involvement is also shown below.^3,7