P. Doumbe et al., BURKITTS-LYMPHOMA IN CAMEROONIAN CHILDREN - EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICOANATOMICAL PROFILE, Bulletin du cancer, 84(4), 1997, pp. 379-383
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.