If the lymph nodes don't feel normal, or a lump is found in the chest or abdomen, your child's doctor may need to cut out a small piece of tissue and look at it under the microscope to see if there are any cancer cells. This is called a biopsy. Once childhood non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is found, more tests will be done to find out if the cancer has spread from where it started to other parts of the body. This is called staging. Your child's doctor needs to know the stage of the disease to plan treatment.
Cancer is found to have started in the digestive tract.
The lymph nodes in the area may or may not have cancer. Cancer is found to have started in the chest. Cancer is found in many places in the abdomen. Stage IV Cancer has spread to the bone marrow or to the brain, its inner coverings, or the spinal cord. Recurrent Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back after it has been treated.