investigations

Last reviewed 01/2018

  • FBC and peripheral blood smear - often abnormal lymphocytes can be identified in the blood smear
  • biochemistry including LDH, uric acid, liver function tests, and creatinine
    • LDH
      • is an indicator of tumor load
      • raised LDH is a negative prognostic factor
    • hyperuricaemia
      • may occur at presentation and/or during treatment
    • creatinine may be raised secondary to renal obstruction caused by lymphadenopathy
    • bilirubinaemia and a raised alkaline phosphatase may ocurr if biliary obstruction due to lymphadenopathy
    • imaging
      • CXR, CT scan
      • biopsy is essential to establish a diagnosis of lymphoma
      • bone marrow biopsy