CORRELATION BETWEEN CYTOPATHOLOGICAL RESULTS AND IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION ON NEEDLE ASPIRATION BIOPSIES OF SUSPECTED AFRICAN BURKITTS LYMPHOMAS

Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is a very high-incidence malignancy in sub-Sah aran Africa, where it targets mainly young children. This lymphoma is closely associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Diagnosis of BL reli es on clinical presentation as well as histological results obtained f rom biopsies. In this report, 66 new patients from Malawi (one of the southernmost African countries with high-incidence BL), suspected on c linical grounds to present with BL, had fine needle aspiration biopsie s taken, smeared on slides and used for May-Grunwald Giemsa staining. Duplicate slides were independently assessed for EBV presence and expr ession by DNA-DNA and/or RNA-RNA in situ hybridisation (ISH), using re spectively the repetitive viral BamHIW DNA fragment in a biotinylated probe and the small EBV-encoded RNA EBER I in a digoxigenin-labelled r iboprobe. There was very good correlation between the various techniqu es in the diagnosis of the lymphomas, showing 67% of clinically suspec t cases to be BL. Our report, presenting data on BL in Malawi, illustr ates the usefulness of a simple aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of this malignancy by Giemsa staining and also in both types of ISH. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.