[Lymphoproliferative disorders of Waldeyer's ring]

To investigate the incidence and characteristics of lymphoproliferative disorders of Waldeyer's ring in our pediatric patients.

We retrospectively reviewed 20 children under 14 years of age who underwent surgery in our department for adenoidectomy and/or tonsillectomy between 1 January 1996 and 30 November 2000. In non-immunocompromised children, surgical indication was the recent development of progressive unilateral tonsillar hyperplasia, and in immunocompromised patients indication was mainly the enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils, although eradication of local Ebstein-Barr virus infection and recurrent acute tonsillitis were also indications.

The mean age was 4.6+/-2.3 years (range: 16.9 months-13.9 years). Sixteen patients (80.0 %) were male. In the nine patients with unilateral hyperplasia, histopathological diagnosis was diffuse lymphoid hyperplasia. Of the 11 immunocompromised patients, 5 (45.5 %) had some type of lymphoproliferative disorder.

Lymphoproliferative disorders of Waldeyer's ring are relatively frequent in immunocompromised children who have undergone surgery of the adenoids and/or tonsils. Although no cases of unilateral hyperplasia of the tonsils were diagnosed in our series, tonsillectomy is indicated in patients with this diagnosis, independent of their immunological status.