[Chromosome abnormalities in malignant lymphoma]

Analysis of the karyotype from bone marrow tissue and lymphocyte culture of the peripheral blood was performed in 25 children either with Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkins' lymphoma prior to any treatment. numeric aberrations were confirmed in 40% of the patients; in these the hyperdiploid number of chromosomes ranged from 52 to 94, while 24% of the cases had cells with 47 chromosomes of which the surplus chromosome corresponded to those of the group C and, in one case, of the group G. The occurence of cells with abnormal chromosome sets confirmed presence of clonal evolution. This was also a poor prognostic sign. By using cytogenetic of high accuracy and by studying further the chromosome abnormalities, problems concerning the importance of these abnormalities in the etiology and epidemiology of these diseases might be solved.