Hi, I have generlized lymphadenopathy for the past 3 months including mediastinal lymphadenopathy currenlty waiting for biopsy , have low fevers and sweat alot very tired also ,should I be concerned at this stage ,any advice would be appreciated.

brian-
Are your swollen nodes tender to the touch?

What do you mean by low fevers-- specifically?

When you say you sweat a lot, the general lymphoma-related symptom associated with sweat is night sweats-- and while this might start slow, eventually this means massive, drenching night sweats, not breaking some sweat on the brow.

Ross

Hi Ross,

Thansk for you comments, nodes on my neck are not sore to touch , but feel bouncy when I press on them , on the sweating side I sweat very easily now if I do any type of excersise or even walking up the stairs and also get hot flushes, no drenching night sweats and no weight loss,do feel warm all the time not hight temp just warm, my latest CT scan results are below which was a follow up one after 8 weeks in which Inguinel and nodes in the mesentery were enlarged,

"slightly prominent left jugulodigastric node with a short axis of 0.9 cm .
There is mediastinal lymphadenopathy.
There is a 2.1 x 1.2 cm prevascular node on image number 2 - 104. There is a 1.6 x 1.1 cm node just above the left pulmonary artery. There is a left paratracheal node of 1.4 x 1.3 cm on image 2 - 105. There is subcarinal lymphadenopathy of 2.3 x 1.3cm on image number 2-119,No significant pleural effusion.
There is minor scarring at the apex of the right lung. There is an irregular nodule centrally in the right apex of 1 x 2.9 cm which may represent scarring but a small irregular mass lesion cannot be excluded. a follow-up CT scan in 3 months may be helpful. No other pulmonary or endobronchial mass lesion,There are slightly prominent nodes in the mesentery measuring up to 0.8 x 0.75 cm on image number 2 - 236. No significant change since May 2010.

OK well I don't think you've got 'B' symptoms of sweats or fevers, you might, but it doesn't quite sound like it, which is good. the feel of the swollen nodes, that's not good, sounds like 'rubbery' might apply, and that hints at a lymphoma. it's not deterministic, but tender would have been preferable.

either way, generalized lymphadenopathy normally does mean that you've got something systemic happening, something that requires attention. but the list of possible suspects is pretty long (somehow, that qualifies as good news ...) these lung issues could indicate an infection of some sort, which might explain some of your other symptoms?

So wait a second, did you get one of the swollen nodes biopsied and are waiting on results, or are you waiting to have the biopsy done?

Hi Ross,

I have been referred to a Respiratory specialist seeing her in 3 weeks , the Radiologist said that she will make a decision on the next step , either PET/CT and or Biopsy as this has been going on for 3 months at this stage, I am a non smoker, also they did mention Sarcoid as a possible outcome along with Lymphoma but I know people with Sarcoid and I don’t seem to have the classic symptoms, If I Google the chest lymphadenopathy I get TB , Lung Cancer ,or Lymphoma as the most likely causes, I know I don’t have TB or ever had TB, or some rare fungal infections that you only get in some parts of the US , but seen as I am living in Ireland that is not possible.

Regards

Brian

Brian-
Yes it's very unlikely you have TB, but TB is shockingly prevalent-- according to the WHO [under "facts 2009 update"], about 1/3 of the human population is infected with the bacilli microbes that cause the disease and one in ten of those people will actually develop it.

As for lung cancer, only about 15% of lung cancers are found in non-smokers, so that seems rather slim as well.

As for lymphoma, a PET/CT will show whether there is cancerous activity, but it is NOT a diagnostic tool, at least in lymphomas. Generally it's only used to stage cancers or to re-stage cancers following treatment. Here in the US, guidelines from the National Cancer Institute's Comprehensive Cancer Network are straightforward when it comes to lymphoma diagnosis---nothing less than an excisional biopsy (removal of a suspicious lymph node) can diagnose lymphoma.

I wish you luck.
Ross

Will let you the biopsy results , thansk for your help Ross.