title: Abdominal manifestations of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
abstract: 25 children (18 boys and 7 girls) were treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) during 1982-1990. The age at diagnosis was 2-15 years. Five of the 25 children died. Of the 25 children 6 patients had the diagnosis of intraabdominal NHL. The presenting abdominal symptoms for these 6 patients were abdominal pain in 4 cases, nausea 3, abdominal distention 2, icterus 1 and diarrhoea 1. Four of the 6 patients with abdominal NHL underwent laparotomy but the diagnosis was unknown before surgery. The indication for explorative laparotomy was in all cases a tumor of unknown etiology combined with ascites in 2 cases and icterus in 1 case. At surgery there was a tumor localized around the porta hepatitis in 1 case and in the right ovarium in 1 case. Furthermore, spread infiltrative growth of tumor was found in 3 cases, with infiltration of the peritoneum in 2 of these cases. A specimen for peroperative histological examination was taken and gave the conclusive diagnosis of NHL in 4 of 6 cases. Staging laparotomy, palliative tumor resection and radical surgery are preferably avoided. For proper treatment an adequate biopsy is important. The management of children with NHL is a multidisciplinary approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kullendorff
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arnbjörnsson
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiebe
mesh_terms: D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging