Gastric lymphoma, a rare malignant tumor of the stomach, is often complicated and challenging to diagnose. Because the disease is not common in clinic, doctors may not have a deep understanding of it, which leads to some misunderstandings in the process of diagnosis. The common misunderstandings in the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma will be discussed in detail in order to improve the understanding of the disease and reduce the misdiagnosis rate.
1. Misdiagnosis
caused by insufficient knowledge of the disease
Gastric lymphoma is primarily located in the lymphoid tissue of the gastric submucosa, not on the surface of the gastric mucosa. This characteristic makes it difficult for gastroscopic biopsy to obtain pathological tissues, and the biopsy specimens are small, which makes it difficult to distinguish accurately from other diseases such as gastric lymphoid reticulum hyperplasia and gastric undifferentiated carcinoma. Therefore, when doctors have insufficient knowledge of gastric lymphoma, it is easy to misdiagnose it as gastric cancer or other gastric diseases.
Misdiagnosis
caused by non-specific
symptoms Symptoms of
gastric lymphoma may include pain in the upper abdomen, indigestion, loss of appetite, weight loss, and anemia. These symptoms may occur in a variety of stomach diseases, such as gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric cancer. Due to the lack of specificity of symptoms of gastric lymphoma, doctors easily confuse it with other gastric diseases in diagnosis, which leads to misdiagnosis.
3. Misdiagnosis
caused by inaccurate interpretation of imaging examination
Imaging studies, such as CT and endoscopic ultrasonography, play an important role in the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma. However, due to the wide range of gastric lymphoma lesions and the presence of lymph node enlargement, the lesions are not infiltrative, which is obviously different from the infiltrative adhesion of gastric cancer. Therefore, if the doctor’s interpretation of imaging examination is inaccurate, it is easy to misdiagnose gastric lymphoma as gastric cancer or other neoplastic diseases.
4. Misdiagnosis
in pathological examination
Pathological examination is the gold standard for the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma. However, pathologists may face some challenges in the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma because of its complex and diverse pathological morphology and easy to be confused with other diseases, such as gastric lymphoplasmic cell hyperplasia and gastric anaplastic carcinoma. If pathologists do not know enough about the pathological features of gastric lymphoma, or fail to carry out adequate immunohistochemical staining and other auxiliary examinations, it is easy to lead to misdiagnosis.
5. Neglecting the patient’s medical history and clinical signs
.
In the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma, doctors should fully consider the patient’s medical history and clinical signs. However, in practice, some doctors may rely too much on the results of imaging or pathological examination, while ignoring the patient’s history and clinical signs. This may lead to misjudgment of the patient’s condition, thus affecting the accuracy of diagnosis.
6. Insufficient
understanding of chemotherapy and radiotherapy programs
Gastric lymphoma has a high sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, so its clinical efficacy is outstanding. However, some doctors may not know enough about the chemotherapy and radiotherapy options for gastric lymphoma, leading to bias in the choice of treatment options. This may affect the treatment effect and prognosis of patients.
7. Measures
to avoid misdiagnosis
In order to avoid misdiagnosis of gastric lymphoma, doctors should strengthen the study and research of the disease and improve their awareness of it. At the same time, in the process of diagnosis, the patient’s history, clinical signs, imaging examination and pathological examination results should be fully considered for comprehensive analysis and judgment. In addition, doctors should maintain close communication with pathologists to work out an accurate diagnosis plan. For patients with suspected gastric lymphoma, further immunohistochemical staining and other auxiliary examinations should be carried out to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.
In summary, the diagnostic process of gastric lymphoma is complex and challenging. In order to avoid misdiagnosis, doctors should strengthen the study and research of the disease, improve its cognitive level, and fully consider the patient’s medical history, clinical signs and the results of various examinations. At the same time, patients should also maintain a positive attitude and cooperate with the doctor’s diagnosis and treatment to improve the therapeutic effect and prognosis.
Stomach cancer
