Clinicopathological features of extranodal lymphomas: Kuwait experience

A total of 935 patients with extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)
diagnosed in the period between January 1985 and December 2000 in
Kuwait Cancer Center, serving the whole population of Kuwait, were
used to describe the clinicopathological and epidemiological
features of extranodal lymphomas in Kuwait. Extranodal lymphomas
accounted for 45% of all NHL observed during this time. All NHL
cases from Kuwait Cancer registry were analyzed and pathologically
reclassified using the latest WHO ( 2000) classification. The most
common lymphoma observed was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (58.60%)
followed by Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) (3.80%). In the pediatric
group, BL comprises more than two thirds of all patients (77.20%).
The most common extranodal sites were stomach (19.70%) and skin
(17.80%) in the adult group, large intestine (29.80%) and small
intestine (19.30%) in the pediatric age group. The majority
(73.40%) of adult extranodal lymphomas was in stage IE - IIE and
had a very good prognosis. On the contrary, the majority of
pediatric extranodal lymphomas were found to be in stage III and
IV. Variations in treatment policies ( single agent or combined
chemotherapy, radiotherapy, combined modality treatment) adopted
and changed during the time period of 16 years of this
retrospective study were documented. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger
AG, Basel.