Changes in presenting tumour site of Burkitt's lymphoma in Ghana, West Africa, 1965-1978

Abstract

We speculate that the change may be related to possible changes in BL incidence.

The changing clinical pattern of endemic Burkitt lymphoma in Western Africa: Experience from a tertiary center in Ghana

“…Though facial/jaw tumors are the hallmark feature of eBL, we observed a shift toward predominantly abdominal tumors in patients seen at our hospital. This mirrors findings documented by the BTP in the 1970s, when a sudden and unexplained rise in the proportion of children presenting with abdominal tumors was noticed . The advent of routine radiological imaging as part of the diagnostic workup for children presenting with solid tumors to our unit may offer a plausible explanation for this change as historical cases were not systematically subjected to the same rigorous investigations for tumor localization and autopsies were not regularly performed on children who died from BL prior to treatment .…”

“…A 10 year prospective study (1969–1979) revealed facial tumors to be the most common clinical presentation in the country followed by abdominal tumors . However, this clinical pattern demonstrated an unexplained reversal in incidence by the early 1980s . Assessment of the geographical distribution of childhood BL in Ghana indicated a non‐random temporal pattern, with the majority of cases residing in the southern‐most parts of the country.…”

“…14 However, this clinical pattern demonstrated an unexplained reversal in incidence by the early 1980s. 15 Assessment of the geographical distribution of childhood BL in Ghana indicated a nonrandom temporal pattern, with the majority of cases residing in the southern-most parts of the country. This was attributed to variability in access to medical care as well as physician interest in diagnosis of BL.…”

Intrathecal chemoprophylaxis in the prevention of central nervous system relapse in Burkitt's lymphoma

“…The larger number of patients presenting with abdominal disease in the group who received IT MTX reflects the changing pattern of presentation of endemic Burkitt's lymphoma as seen in Ghana over the last several years. 6 Overall CNS relapse occurred in 13 of the 95 ( I 3.7%) Burkitt's lymphoma patients who received IT MTX and I9 of 76 (25%) of patients who did not receive IT MTX. Patients were then stratified into those presenting with facial (Stages 1 and 11) and those presenting with abdominal involvement (Stage HI).…”

Correlation between cytopathological results and In situ hybridisation on needle aspiration biopsies of suspected african Burkitt's lymphomas

“…This study draws attention to the continued high prevalence of BL among childhood tumours in sub-Saharan Africa and produces data for Malawi, a country not previously included among statistical studies of this tumour (Biggar et aL, 1981;Olweny et al, 1980;Nkrumah and Olweny, 1985). methanol and kept at room temperature in a hot climate until sent to the UK for analysis.…”