BURKITTS-LYMPHOMA IN 63 TURKISH CHILDREN DIAGNOSED OVER A 10-YEAR PERIOD

Sixty-three Turkish children with Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) diagnosed ov er a 10-year period in a single institution were retrospectively analy zed. Burkitt's lymphoma included 41.7% of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and 17.2% of all childhood malignant solid tumors diagnosed in our departm ent in this duration. The patients studied with BL were aged between 3 and 14 gears (mean 5.9 years), with a male to female ratio of 2:1. Wh ile the age distribution in our patients was similar to that in Africa n BL (endemic), the predominance of abdominal involvement and the freq uency of bone marrow infiltration and pleural effusion were reminiscen t of American BL (sporadic). The incidence of jaw involvement (15.9%) in our group was higher than in American BL, however, and was not as h igh as in African BL. Most of the patients were of a lower socioeconom ic status. Significant growth retardation was found in the children wi th BL compared with 40 age-matched children without malignancy, nor ch ronic or endocrinologic disorders, who were of a similar socioeconomic status. A serological study for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was performe d in 18 children, and the IgG-type antibody to the viral capsid antige n of EBV was found to be positive in all of them. As a result, BL seem s to include a considerable proportion of all childhood malignant soli d tumors in Turkey. The epidemiological and clinical presentation and course indicate that BL appears in Turkish children In a form that is between the African and American types of the disease. Further molecul ar and chromosomal studies in Turkish children with BL are needed.