title: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in childhood and adolescence: frequency and distribution of immunomorphological types from a tertiary care center in South India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a dearth of published literature on the frequency and distribution of pediatric and adolescent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in India according to the 2001 WHO classification. The aim of this study was to record the distribution of the different subtypes, analyze the major subtypes, and compare it with the published data from other countries. A review of pediatric NHL statistics from population-based cancer registries was included in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted using information retrieved from the files of our institution. A total of 467 patients with lymphoma (excluding mycosis fungoides) were recorded in the under 20 years group over a period of 6 years, of which 252 patients suffered from NHL. The demographic characteristics, frequency and distribution of different subtypes were noted and compared with published reports from other parts of the world.
  
  
  RESULTS
  T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia constituted the majority (32.1%) of all NHLs in children and adolescents in our study. The other major subgroups were Burkitt's lymphoma, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Burkitt's lymphoma in this study had clinical presentations similar to those seen in western countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The distribution of different subtypes of lymphoma in pediatric and adolescent NHL in India differs considerably from that in western countries and other eastern countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. mtm2005@cmcvellore.ac.in
authors.forename: Marie Therese
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Manipadam
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Auro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viswabandya
authors.forename: Leni
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Mammen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chandy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000453:epidemiology; D017728:Lymphoma, Large-Cell, Anaplastic / Q000453:epidemiology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology