Burkitt Lymphoma in Children: An Unusual Presentation

Abstract

Burkitt lymphoma is an extremely aggressive and fast-growing mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are three clinical variants of Burkitt's lymphoma: endemic or African, sporadic and related to immunodeficiency. The sporadic variant of Burkitt's lymphoma is mainly present in Western countries and represents 40% of all childhood non-Hodgkin lymphomas. The average age of onset is 8 years. In pediatric age, sporadic Burkitt lymphoma is mainly an extranodal disease and at diagnosis the most commonly involved site is the gastrointestinal system, in the form of a massive abdominal mass occupying the lower right quadrant and which arises in the region of the ileocecal valve.Sporadic Burkitt lymphoma occurs less frequently with cervical lymphadenopathies, and other organs such as the brain, lung, liver, spleen, kidney and bone are commonly affected in the systemic spread of the tumor. In this article we describe an unusual presentation of advanced LB. A 5-year-old boy came to our observation due to a left submandibular lymph node swelling that was biopsied with the diagnosis of LB. Subsequently, radiological investigations performed for staging unexpectedly showed liver, kidney and brain injuries.

Primary nasopharyngeal Burkitt’s lymphoma in paediatric patients in a non-endemic region: our experience

“…In the paediatric age group, BL is considered as the most frequent variety of NHL with an incidence of 40% [2]. Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive variety of B-cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) [3]. Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is a subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and is described as a malignant neoplasm of mature, low-frequency B-cell lymphocytes.…”