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Trends in Burkitt's lymphoma: a three‐decade retrospective study from Uganda
Author(s) -
Kamulegeya A.,
Muwazi L.,
Kasaganki A.,
Rwenyonyi C.M.,
Kuteesa A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
oral surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.156
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1752-248X
pISSN - 1752-2471
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-248x.2010.01095.x
Subject(s) - medicine , lymphoma , burkitt's lymphoma , retrospective cohort study , biopsy , dermatology , pediatrics , pathology
Aim: This was a retrospective study describing the clinical and demographic characteristics of Burkitt's lymphoma patients diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, Makerere University College of Health Sciences over a period of three decades (1976–2005). Materials and methods: Histopathological request and report forms were retrieved from the Department of Pathology, College of Health Sciences Makerere University. Results: Six thousand eighteen suspected lymphoma specimens were received at the department; of these, 1177 had a clinical diagnosis of Burkitt's lymphoma. However, 2099 specimens were histopathologically confirmed as Burkitt's lymphoma. The jaws were the commonest sites of biopsy. Overall average age of patients was 7.81 ± 5.92, while those of decades 1, 2 and 3 were 9.92 ± 9.12, 8.04 ± 5.22 and 7.29 ± 5.19, respectively. Although combined data revealed that males were significantly more affected at a younger age than females ( P < 0.05), this was not so for the individual decades ( P > 0.05). November, January and February had the highest numbers of Burkitt's lymphoma biopsies taken in decades 1, 2 and 3, respectively, but the results were not statistically significantly different ( P > 0.05). Based on the clinical and demographic characteristics, the distribution of Burkitt's lymphoma was not different among the three decades ( P > 0.05). Conclusion: Burkitt's lymphoma prevalence and clinical features in the present study are neither significantly different from what is described in studies from other endemic countries, nor from most previous reports in Uganda.