Leukemia and Lymphoma: What is the difference? | Norton Cancer Institute

Don A. Stevens, M.D., Medical Oncologist at Norton Healthcare, explains the differences between leukemia and lymphoma, two types of blood cancers.

The pathology or what's broken has a lot of similarities. The largest difference is where is the disease and how is it hurting the patient.

So, if the disease is principally in the blood with a high white blood cell count then that's going to be called a leukemia and there are cases of lymphoma, for example, where there is a lot of overlap. There's a specific sub type of leukemia and lymphoma where it can either be principally in the blood and we call it leukemia or principally in the lymph nodes and we call it lymphoma. It is, in fact, the same disease.

And that's an example a lot of overlap in those two diagnosis but in the lymphomas typically those are diseases that are going to be more solid, they're going to be in lymph nodes or in organs. They can involve the bone marrow, they frequently do involve the bone marrow. But they typically do not circulate, they typically are not going to be found in blood that you take out your arm, for example.

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[leegary]

I was just wondering if a person who keeps having blood tests that showed up very high white blood cells but then all of a sudden blood tests there after show normal and months and months go by then another test shows the cells are up again could this be something else other than lymphoma or leukaemia because it wouldn't come and go like that would it if it was cancer

[shereehardin]

in a way, all cancers are the same disease...just at different parts of the body...