Mantle cell lymphoma--a clinicopathological study of 13 cases

Mantle cell lymphoma is an uncommon non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In a period of four years, 13 cases of mantle cell lymphoma were diagnosed in our department, comprising 3.1% of all non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosed. The mean age of presentation was 52 years with a slight male preponderance. The disease was nodal in twelve and extra-nodal in tonsil in one. Five patients had bone marrow involvement. Five cases showed a nodular pattern on lymph node biopsy while the remaining eight had a diffuse pattern. Immunophenotyping showed positivity for CD20 and cyclin D1. Despite certain morphological similarity to other low-grade lymphomas, mantle cell lymphoma has a characteristic appearance of its own. It is more aggressive than other low-grade lymphomas and hence needs to be accurately diagnosed.