RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Lymphoma is the second most common malignancy of head and neck. Many studies have been carried out in different population groups to detect the subtypes of oral and jaw lymphoma, but such research has not been conducted in Iran. The purpose of this study was to determine the subtypes of oral and jaw lymphoma by immunohistochemistry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 36 paraffin-embedded blocks (25 males and 11 females) with primary diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma were studied by immunohistochemical markers according to cellular morphology. RESULTS: The frequencies were diffuse large B-cell (41.1%), low-grade B-cell (35.2%), peripheral T-cell (11.7%), Burkitt (5.8%), and Hodgkin lymphomas (5.8%). The involved sites were salivary gland (26.4%), maxillary bone (23.5%), mandibular soft tissues (17.6%), maxillary sinus (14.7%), mandibular bone (8.8%), tonsils and tongue (5.7%), and lip and vestibule (2.9%), and 2 cases (5.5%) turned out to be undifferentiated carcinomas. The most common lymphomas in male and females were diffuse large B-cell and low-grade B-cell lymphomas, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology of different types of oral lymphoma in a sample of Iranian population was not similar with other populations of the world. Immunohistochemistry and molecular methods are required to prove the diagnosis in addition to typing of lymphoma.