BURKITTS-LYMPHOMA IN CAMEROONIAN CHILDREN - EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICOANATOMICAL PROFILE

This retrospective study is armed to indicate the descriptive and path ological aspects of children Burkitt lymphoma in Cameroon. It was perf ormed on a 4 year period between July 1988 and July 1992. Children fro m 0 to 15-year-old who were hospitalized and who had histologically pr overn Burkitt lymphoma were included. There were 39 patients, that is 27% of all malignant tumors in children during this period. Twenty-fou r were boys and 15 were girls; the median age was 90 months (+/- 46) ( range from 3 to 180 months). All children had Plasmodium falciparum in fection. EBV serology was positive in 18 patients out of 25 (72%), 14 (36%) had a good nutritional status, the 25 other patients suffered ma lnutrition. Tumor localizations were: maxillary in 29 (74%) patients, abdominal in 7 (18%), other in 3 patients. Clinical stages according t o Murphy classification were: stage I in 6 (15%) patients, II in 3 (8% ), III in 20 (51%) and IV in 10 (26%). It is concluded from this serie s that clinical aspects and histological pattern in children Burkitt l ymphoma in Cameroon are not different from what is observed in other e ndemic areas.