Childhood non-Hodgkin Malignant lymphomas: a clinicopathologic retrospective study

Between 1968 and 1975, 44 evaluable children under 16 years of age with the histologic diagnosis of non-Hodgkin malignant lymphoma (ML) were treated at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. Histologic diagnoses were reclassified as follows: 13 lymphoblastic (others) ML, 15 convoluted cell type lymphoblastic ML, 9 Burkitt type ML, and 7 immunoblastic ML. Only 36% of the patients had stage I and II disease. At diagnosis 25% showed malignant cells in the bone marrow smears. Bone marrow infiltration was particularly frequent in the convoluted cell type lymphoblastic ML and in the lymphoblastic (others) ML subgroups. Burkitt type ML frequently was associated with abdominal lesions and subsequently a high incidence of central nervous system involvement. Patients with stage I and II ML were encountered mostly in the immunoblastic ML subgroup. After 1973 more intensive chemotherapy plus radiotherapy seems to have slightly improved the survival of the patients, except in the Burkitt type ML Subgroup.