Laboratory tests to confirm lymphoma

The diagnosis of lymphoma mainly relies on pathological examination. Therefore, how to obtain samples, the timing of sampling and the experience of the pathologist are very important.

The advantage of needle aspiration of lesions is that it is simple and easy to perform, but the disadvantage is that the false negative rate is high, and related confirmatory tests such as immunohistochemistry may not be completed due to the small amount of sample collected.

If there is bone marrow metastasis, a bone marrow smear or biopsy can be performed to confirm the diagnosis. Bone marrow is easy to obtain and can be used for monoclonal antibody immunolabeling and gene screening in addition to morphology.

The diagnosis can also be confirmed by finding tumor cells in pleural effusion or ascites.

The best method is to perform a surgical biopsy of the lymph nodes or lesions for pathological examination. If the patient is too seriously ill to undergo anesthesia or surgery, a small chemotherapy can be given temporarily to relieve the condition after signing the informed consent form before taking the biopsy tissue. It should be pointed out that due to the strong heterogeneity of lymphoma pathology and the high misdiagnosis rate, it is best to send the same pathological slide to more than two pathology departments, and then treat after the pathologists make a consistent diagnosis. Therefore, the diagnosis of lymphoma requires the joint cooperation and efforts of internal medicine, surgery and pathology doctors.