A clinico-pathological study of non-Hodgkin's lymphomata in childhood

In a series of 27 children with non-Hodgkin's lymphomata during a 29-year period there were 21 boys and 6 girls. Thirteen had lymphocytic lymphoma, 9 histiocytic and 5 lymphoma with a prominent starry-sky appearance. All but one had diffuse lymphoma and no case of mixed cell type lymphoma was seen. Patients with lymphocytic lymphoma had extralymphatic manifestations more often than patients with the other types, and leukaemic transformation, which was seen in 6 patients, was especially common in lymphocytic lymphoma. Patients with Burkitt-type tumours did not respond well to radiation therapy with conventional fractionation. The survival in the present series was very poor, only 3 out of 27 children still being alive. A more aggressive therapeutic approach, guided by a differentiated microscopic classification and appropriate staging procedures, may be expected to give better results.