Review of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) - abstract

ABSTRACT

To determine the immunophenotypes and review the clinical features of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) seen at the QEH, Barbados, 1988-89. Twenty-seven cases were diagnosed; clinical charts were reviewed in 24 (19 Barbadian residents, 5 other Caribbean territories). Immunophenotyping was performed on paraffin blocks (UWI, Mona) in 22 cases. Human T-cell lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-1) antibody status was determined by ELISA in 20 cases at CAREC. Most patients had lymph node involvement with or without hepatosplenomegaly. There was one case each where the brain, the stomach and the ovary were the primary sites. Eight tumours were B-cell and 12 T-cell phenotype; results were inconclusive in 2 cases. Of the 12 patients with T-cell lymphomas (age range 3 to 75, median 59, 4 M, 4 F), 4 were seropositive (all females) for HTLV-1, representing cases of adult T-cell lymphoma/leukaemia (ATLL), of whom one patient had tropical spastic paraparesis, 7 were sero-negative and serostatus was unknown in 1. All patients with B-cell lymphomas age range 21-89, median 44, 6M, 2F) were HTV-1 sero-negative, while one patient with inconclusive immunotyping was sero-positive. In this small study, a trend towards T-cell immunophenotype predominace was observed. There is, however, a need for further studies (AU)