Oral Extranodal Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: Series of Forty Two Cases in Malaysia

Background: Lymphoma is a malignant neoplasm of lymphoid tissue classified into Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s types. It mostly affects lymph nodes although a considerable proportion of Non-Hodgkin’s casesoccur in extranodal sites. Materials and
Methods: Selected cases diagnosed as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL)during the period of 1980 to 2012 were retrieved from the archives of the Oral Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory,Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya. The sections from the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue blockswere stained with H&E as well as with LCA, CD20, and CD3.
Results: The mean age was 41.6 years with amale: female ratio of 1.3:1. Out of the forty two cases, nineteen were Malays, eighteen were Chinese, followedby Indians (3) and Indonesians (2). The most common site of involvement was the mandible (22.2%), followedby the maxilla and palate (19.4% each). Most of the lesions presented as a painless progressive swelling. Onlythirty six cases were further subdivided into B or T cell types. The majority were B-cell type (26 cases), of these 6cases were Burkitt’s lymphomas. Only ten cases were T-cell lymphoma, with three cases of NK/T-cell lymphoma.
Conclusions: In this series of 42 patients diagnosed as extranodal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the lesions appearedas painless swellings, mostly in men with the mandible as the most frequent site of involvement. Majority wereB-cell lymphomas with Malays and Chinese being equally affected whereas lymphomas were rare in the Indianethnicity. T-cell lymphomas were found to be common in the Chinese ethnic group.