Malignant lymphoma in western province of Saudi Arabia

A review of all malignant lymphomas seen at the King Khalid National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between January 1985 and June 1993 was done. There were 106 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with a male: female ratio of 2.1:1. Low grade, intermediate grade and high grade lymphomas constituted 17.9%, 36.8% and 28.7% respectively. A comparatively lower frequency of follicular lymphomas (5.6%) was noted, compared to the Western literature. Of the few cases immunophenotyped, T-cell and B-cell tumours make up 29% and 71%, respectively.