Jaw vs abdominal Burkitt's lymphoma: An analysis of 25 Iraqi cases

This study compared the clinicopathological, immunohistochemical characteristics and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) detection of Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) in the abdomen and jaw of Iraqi patients.

A cohort/retrospective study was carried out between August and September 2024 using 25 tissue blocks (14 gnathic and 11 abdominal BL) from the Oral and Maxillofacial Laboratory, University of Baghdad, College of Dentistry, and the National Centre for Educational Laboratories. The sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E), while CD10, CD20, Bcl-2, BCl-6, C-Myc and Ki-67 markers were used for diagnosis. The DNA detection of the EBV was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The tumours showed 22 classical and 3 atypical histological patterns. The mean age of the patients was 6.3 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 3.1:1. The younger patients were affected by the gnathic BL (P = 0.01), and the EBV was detected with a positive correlation (P = 0.005) in 14% of the gnathic and 72% of the abdominal tumours. There was no significant correlation between the Ki-67 expression and the clinicopathological features.

A critical finding of this study was that gnathic BL tends to affect people of a younger age. In addition, the abdominal presentation of EBV suggests a regional pattern of viral exposure, while there was no correlation between the aggressiveness of BL and viral exposure or the tumour site.