Nursing Assessment for Malignant Lymphoma (Signs and Symptoms)

Nursing Assessment for malignant lymphoma by Doenges, (1999) obtained the following data:

1. Activity / rest

• Symptoms: fatigue, weakness, or general malaise, loss of productivity and decreased exercise tolerance.
• Signs: decreased strength, shoulders slumped, slow road, and other signs that show fatigue.

2. Circulation

• Symptoms: palpitations, angina / chest pain.
• Signs: tachycardia, dysrhythmias, cyanosis face and neck (venous drainage obstruction due to enlarged lymph nodes is a rare occurrence), sclera jaundice and jaundice common in connection with damage to the liver and bile duct obstruction by enlarged lymph nodes, pallor (anemia), diaphoresis, perspiration evening.

3. Ego integrity

• Symptoms: stress factor, fear / anxiety in connection with the diagnosis and possible fear of death, diagnostic tests and treatment modalities (chemotherapy and radiation therapy).
• Signs: various behaviors, such as withdrawing angry, passive.

4. Elimination

• Symptoms: changes in urine and stool characteristics, history of intussusception obstruction, or malabsorption syndrome (infiltration of retro-peritoneal lymph nodes)
• Signs: tenderness in the right upper quadrant on palpation and enlargement (hepatomegaly), tenderness in the left upper quadrant on palpation and enlargement (splenomegaly), decreased urine output, dark urine, anuria (urethral obstruction / renal failure), bowel dysfunction and bladder.

5. Food / fluid

• Symptoms: anorexia / loss of appetite, dysphagia (esophageal pressure) weight loss.
• Signs: swelling of the face, neck, jaw, or right hand (secondary to superior vena cava compensated by enlarged lymph nodes), lower extremity edema in relation to the inferior vena cava obstruction of intra-abdominal lymph node enlargement (non-Hodgkin), ascites (obstruction in the inferior vena cava, in connection with intra-abdominal lymph node enlargement)

6. Neuro-sensory

• Symptoms: nerve pain (neuralgia) indicates nerve root compression by enlarged lymph nodes in the brachial, lumbar, and sacral plexus, muscle weakness, paresthesias.
• Signs: mental status; lethargy, withdrawal, lack of interest in the general vicinity, paraplegia (spinal rod compression of the vertebral body, disc involvement in compression / degeneration or compression of the blood supply to the spinal rod).

7. Pain / comfort

• Symptoms: tenderness / pain on the affected lymph nodes, eg at about mediastinum, chest pain, back pain (vertebral compression) general bone pain (bone involvement limfomatus), pain in the affected area immediately after drinking alcohol.
• Signs: focus on yourself, cautious behavior.

8. Breathing

• Symptoms: dyspnea at work or rest; chest pain
• Symptoms: dyspnea; tachycardia, dry non-productive cough, respiratory distress signal; increased respiratory rate and depth, use of accessory muscles, stridor, cyanosis, husky / laryngeal paralysis (pressure of enlarged nodes in laryngeal nerve).

9. Security

• Symptoms: a history of frequent / infection, mononukleus history, history of ulcer / perforation gastric bleeding, fever, night sweats without chills, redness / general pruritus.
• Symptoms: fever settled without any symptoms of infection, lymph node symmetric, no pain, swollen / enlarged, enlarged tonsils, general pruritus, most areas of melanin pigmentation loss (vitilago).

10. Sexuality

• Symptoms: problem about fertility / pregnancy (while the disease does not affect, but affect treatment), decreased libido.