Lymphoma in adult Nigerians

A review of 143 cases of lymphoma seen in adult Nigerians within a period of 10 years at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. There were 95 males and 48 females patients with an age range of 17 to 88 years. There was male sex predominance both for Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. 74% of the cases were non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 26% were Hodgkin's Nodular lymphomas were very few. Most cases of Hodgkin's disease were of the mixed cellularity subtype. Among non-Hodgkin's lymphomas the intermediate grade predominated, the commonest being diffuse large cell lymphoma. Cases of Burkitts's lymphoma were not common in young adults. Immunohistochemistry plays a vital role in lymphoma diagnosis and sometimes in the differential diagnosis with small blue cell tumours.