Lymphoma classification: Past, present and future

Abstract

Lymphoma classification has always played a pivotal role for the management of patients with lymphoid tumors. This becomes even more critical at the present time in the light of many novel therapeutic options that tend to customize the intervention on the pathobiological characteristics of the disease, which each patient suffers from. The aims of this chapter are to trace the way through which the present edition of the WHO classification has been developed; to highlight its merits and limitations; and to depict the future developments that can be envisaged based on the high-throughput technologies that are currently available