Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in Mexico. A clinicopathological and molecular analysis

It is now well established that the clinical and histopathological characte ristics of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas may vary significantly throughout the wo rld. However, only a few reports have been published in Latin American coun tries. In this work, the clinical and pathologic findings of 264 patients w ith non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in Mexico City were analyzed. Diffuse large (14 %) and diffuse mixed cell types (20 %) predominated among nodal lymphomas. Within the group of patients with high grade malignancies, immunoblastic s arcomas were the most common (40/48). It is important to mention that folli cular lymphomas were sporadic (4.5 %). Among extranodal lymphomas the most commonly involved site was the gastrointestinal tract (11.3 %), followed by the midline (6 %). Molecular analysis of 65 cases with immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene probes showed that most lymphomas were of B-cell linea ge (66 %). The remaining group was composed of T-cell (25 %) and bigenotypi c malignancies (9 %). All attempts to establish a correlation between the c linical stage and histopathological types with the genetic findings were no t successful. However, pre-B and bigenotypic lymphomas were observed mainly in patients over 60 years of age. This study highlights some relevant char acteristics of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in Mexico.