What Is Hodgkin's Disease?

Cancer is made up of abnormal cells that multiply constantly.

Hodgkin’s disease is a type of cancer. To help you understand what is happening when you have cancer, it helps to understand how your body works normally. Our bodies are made up of tiny building blocks called cells. Normal cells grow and multiply when the body needs them, and die out when the body does not need them.

Cancer is made up of abnormal cells that grow whether they are needed or not. Hodgkin’s disease is a type of cancer that starts in your lymphatic system. It’s named after the English doctor, Thomas Hodgkin, who first described a group of people with this disease in 1832. Hodgkin’s disease is a type of lymphoma. Another type of lymphoma is non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. To learn about non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, select it from the list of types of cancer.

When you have Hodgkin’s disease, cells in your lymph nodes grow out of control. Lymph nodes are small glands that are grouped in various places in your body, such as your armpits and groin. They help your body fight infection. The mass of extra cells form a tumor. The tumor can be noncancerous, called benign. Or it can be cancerous, called malignant. Sometimes tumors form in the spleen or in other organs. Hodgkin’s disease is unique since only a minority of the cells in the tumor are malignant.

Of all the lymphomas, Hodgkin’s disease is one of the most curable.