Aggressive lymphomas can occur in patients who are human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive. It is estimated that 10 percent of HIV positive patients will develop lymphoma.

The lymphomas that most often seen in HIV patients who develop them are:

• Large Cell Immunoblastic
• Burkitt's Lymphoma
• Primary Central Nervous System
• Hodgkin's Lymphoma (Disease)

National Cancer Institute Information Sheet

• AIDS Related Cancer main page
• An NCI article on a 2003 article in the Journal Blood suggest the use of HAART in AIDS treatment has caused a shift in AIDS related lymphomas to a type that responds well to chemotherapy

News - April 2000:

CHICAGO (AP) - Hodgkin's disease and possibly two other types of cancer should be added to the list of illnesses used to determine whether HIV-infected patients have full-blown AIDS, new research suggests.

The study examined more than 300,000 AIDS patients and their rates of several types of malignancies other than cancers already linked to the disease.

AIDS patients were more than 11 times more likely to have Hodgkin's disease, three times more likely to have lip cancer and about twice as likely to have a form of testicular cancer, the researchers reported in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

In determining whether HIV-positive patients have developed full-blown AIDS, doctors consider whether they have cancers known to occur when the AIDS virus has damaged the body's disease-fighting immune system.

The cancers already considered AIDS-defining diseases are cervical cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and a form of skin cancer known as Kaposi's sarcoma.

The study was led by Dr. Morten Frisch from both the National Cancer Institute and the Danish Epidemiology Science Center.

Support Groups

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Resources

HIV Lymphoma Papers and Abstracts from the Medical Advocates for Social Justice - a large collection
A Perspective on AIDS Lymphoma from AEGIS and Being Alive
JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center
Non-Hodgkin's and HIV from Project Inform
AZT and Lymphoma from the AIDS Treatment News archive
Clinical Trial Information & NCI AIDS Related Trials
HIV InSite: http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu

Patient Perspectives:

The Body has a long list of Lymphoma Questions & Answers

HIV and Hodgkin's sample question

 

Related Articles

For more information on Adult Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Pages:

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Diagnosis
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Aggressive Lymphomas
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Indolent Lymphomas
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Treatment
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Resources
Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants

Adult Hodgkin's Information Pages:

Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Also of interest:

Childhood Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Information Pages
The Lymphoma Information Network

 

Books

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas, Peter M. Mauch (Editor), James O. Armitage (Editor), et al., 2004.

Section VI: Special Topics

Chapter 39: Management of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome-Related Lymphoma

Excellent but Technical: An Illustrated Guide to Skin Lymphomas, Cerroni, Gatter, Kerl, 2nd. Ed, 2005

• Chapter 19: Cutaneous Lymphomas in Immunosuppressed Individuals, pp 151-154