Family’s long battle against marginal zone lymphoma

In Shanghai, Feng Bin walks with his mother, a routine now possible after more than three years of fighting Marginal Zone Lymphoma (MZL).

Three years ago, his mother’s initial symptoms, abdominal pain and loss of appetite, led to a difficult diagnosis. Doctors suspected lymphoma, but confirming the specific type proved challenging. Multiple hospitals and tests yielded only a vague conclusion of chronic lymphocytic proliferative disease. Dr.

Wang Li at the Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine explained that “diagnostic difficulty” isn’t unusual with MZL, a slow-growing lymphoma accounting for 5-15% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. MZL is often hard to diagnose because its symptoms appear slowly, present in many forms, and lack unique markers. The disease can also appear anywhere in the body, leading to misdiagnosis by doctors specializing in other fields.

Feng Bin felt despair as the search for answers continued, even wishing he could trade years of his life for his mother’s health. A turning point came after the 2025 Lunar New Year when his mother’s condition worsened. Feng Bin sought help at Ruijin Hospital, where Dr. Wang Li’s team finally diagnosed MZL with disseminated metastasis. Following the diagnosis, his mother began a targeted therapy with obutinib, a drug recently approved and covered by insurance in China.

While she experienced initial side effects, careful management by the medical team and support from her family allowed her to stabilize and continue treatment. Her most recent assessment in March 2026 showed complete remission (CR). Though ongoing monitoring and treatment are needed, Feng Bin is grateful for the chance to see his mother return to daily life, cooking at home and enjoying a renewed sense of normalcy.