The diagnosis of a low grade B cell lymphoma is both a specific and a non-specific diagnosis that contains the following components:
Grade
The classification of 'low grade B cell lymphoma' in lymphoma terms means that the lymphoma in question is indolent, or slow-growing. In the past, this has been expressed both as a number (grade 1 through grade 3), or merely as low grade B cell lymphoma (high grade being a rarely used term).
The most frequently diagnosed low grade B cell lymphoma subtype is typically found in people in their 50s and is called follicular lymphoma.
Cell Type
Lymphoma affects the blood's lymphocytes, and it can either affect the B cells or the T -cells. Lymphomas affecting the B cells are far more common than lymphomas affecting the T cells, amounting to about eighty to eighty-five percent of all lymphomas. They are also more treatable and have a better prognosis, generally speaking, than T cell lymphomas.
Lymphoma Category
Although this diagnosis simply says 'low grade B cell lymphoma' one can readily infer that it is a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, as opposed to a Hodgkin's lymphoma. The reason this can be safely inferred is because Hodgkin's lymphomas are not expressed in terms of grade or cell type.
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