Pediatric Tonsil Cancer: A National and Institutional Perspective

To evaluate childhood and adolescent tonsil cancer incidence and to identify the clinical characteristics indicative of those patients who would benefit from urgent operative intervention.

The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 18 database, inclusive of national cancer statistics from 1973 to 2013, provided quantitative tonsil cancer incidence data. An institutional retrospective chart review of pediatric patients diagnosed with tonsil malignancy from January 2013 to January 2017 identified supplementary qualitative clinical presentation information.

The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 18 database included 138 pediatric patients with tonsil cancer with an age-adjusted incidence rate of 0.021/100 000 patients per year. The majority of cases were unilateral (79.7%), and there was both a male and Caucasian predominance. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (84.1%) was the most common malignancy, of which Burkitt lymphoma (31.1%), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (26.8%), and follicular lymphoma (10.1%) were the most common subtypes. Five tonsillar malignancy patients were identified upon institutional chart review. The majority likewise had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and all shared a history of rapid tonsillar enlargement over ≤12 weeks. Significant tonsillar asymmetry was present in 4 patients. Four patients additionally exhibited prominent cervical lymphadenopathy.

Pediatric tonsil cancer is rare, with non-Hodgkin lymphoma accounting for the majority of pediatric tonsillar malignancies. A high index of suspicion is appropriate in children who present with relatively rapid tonsil enlargement, tonsillar asymmetry characterized by a difference in tonsillar size of ≥2 degrees on the Brodsky scale, or concurrent prominent cervical lymphadenopathy.