Burkitt's lymphoma in Greek adults - A study of the Hellenic co-operative oncology group

Non-African Burkitt's lymphoma is a rare disease among adults without AIDS. Among 1352 Greek adult patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 24 cases (1.8 %) were classified as Burkitt's (BL) or Burkitt-like (BLL) lymphoma. Eleven cases fulfilled the criteria of BL and 13 of BLL. No statistical differenc es were found in the general characteristics of the two groups at the time of diagnosis. Extranodal involvement was a common finding in both groups an d bulky disease (> 10 cm) was observed in almost one half of the patients. The majority of the patients were treated with intensive, although differen t, protocols. After induction treatment, complete remission (CR) was achiev ed in 14 patients (60.8%). CR was reached in all cases with stage I-II, whi le in stage IV the CR rate was 30.4%. The median overall survival was 27 mo nths. The median survival for BL was 13 months compared to 27 months in the BLL group (P = 0.34). The data of the present retrospective analysis, indi cated that there were not significant clinical differences between BL and B LL variants. Since BLL is still a non-reproducible category in the REAL cla ssification, all BL variants must be treated uniformly with intensive proto cols. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.