Burkitt's lymphoma in Iraq. Clinical and pathological study of forty-seven patients

The clinical and pathological features of 47 patients with Burkitt's lymphoma seen at the University of Baghdad Teaching Hospital over the years 1969-1977 are described. There were 30 males and 17 females with a mean age of 7.5 years. All patients presented with advanced disease; 44 were in Stage III and 3 in Stage IV, (1 with central nervous system involvement; 1 with bone-marrow involvement; 1 presented as acute leukaemia). The abdomen, with or without other sites, was involved in 42 patients. Thirty-four patients died within 18 months, 11 in the immediate post-operative period. Cyclophosphamide in variable dosages was administered to 29 patients with a good response in 15. The 3 patients with Stage IV disease died with poor response to therapy. Thus, in Iraq, a non-endemic area for the disease, Burkitt's lymphoma seems to have somewhat different clinical and pathological features from the endemic (African), or the rare, sporadic disease reported elsewhere.