Lymph Node Carcinoma A stained thin section of human lymph node reveals damage caused by a carcinoma. As evidenced by this micrograph, combining phase contrast microscopy with classical histological staining techniques often yields enhancement of cellular features. Cancer of the lymph nodes can originate in a number of ways.
Lymphomas originate in the lymphatic system, itself.
There are two main groups of lymphomas, Hodgkin's Disease and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Other lymph node cancers come from malignancies that originate in other parts of the body. The lymph nodes then filter out the cancer cells the same way they do infectious organisms and debris. Sometimes the cancer cells are destroyed by white blood cells in the nodes, but if they're not, they will lodge there and begin to grow. Enlargement of lymph nodes is often the first sign that an existing cancer has spread.