Cancer Treatment Options Forum - December 29th, 2010 - 3 Comments
Common cancer found in young men?
Please help! My cousin had a 2 1/2 inch lump taken from under his arm Wednesday. They at first thought it was lymphoma. Now they sent it to Mayo Clinic. He is 33 any suggestions? Thank You!
Lymphoma and Sarcoma can occur in that location and can be found in young adults. There are over 50 subtypes of sarcoma. It is also possible that this is a metastasis that has traveled from another location and lodged in this spot. The biopsy should clarify if this is a malignancy and if it is . .the type of malignancy.
In the meantime all you can do is wait and hope that it is just a benign tumor or cyst of some kind.
If you would like to read more about these types of cancers:
ACS: What is soft tissue sarcoma
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_sarcoma_38.asp
ACS: What is Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkins
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_non_hodgkins_lymphoma_32.asp
ACS: What is Hodgkins disease (Lymphoma)
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1x_What_Is_Hodgkin_Disease.asp
ACS: What is metastatic cancer
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_is_metastatic_cancer_67.asp
Incindentally if this turns out to be a sarcoma your cousin should insist on being treated only by a sarcoma specialist.
In that location, Lymphoma would be the most obvious choice. And it does effect young people…although it much more commen as you get older.
Regardless, there are many other things it is more likely to be. Such as a cyst or swollen lymph node do to a virus.
Is he having any other symptoms?
At 33 any type of lymphoma would be uncommon, but a lump that size is worrying. There are many types of lymphoma so it’s best to be educated. The three most common are Hodgkin’s disease (often curable), large B-cell lymphoma (fast-growing and often curable), and follicular lymphoma (very slow-growing but usually incurable).
In addition to the above links, I’d add
http://northoma.blogspot.com/p/diagnosis-and-tests.html
and
http://www.lymphomajournal.com/
from a patient’s perspective. Very, very scary, but at least it lets you know that people can beat this.
I hope your brother’s lump turns out to be less serious. There’s always hope to beat whatever it turns out to be, though.