Clinical characteristics and pathological classification of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Kuwait. Results of a collaborative study with the International Lymphoma Study Group (ILSG).

Kuwait was chosen by the International Lymphoma Study Group (ILSG) as one of the sites attending in the project on "Clinical characteristics and pathological classification of non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the developing countries". The Kuwait study involved 206 cases of NHL, diagnosed, staged and treated in the Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC). All cases were reviewed and reclassified independently by the pathologists of KCCC and the International Lymphoma Study Group (ISLG) using the latest World Health Organization (WHO) classification of neoplastic disease of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. Immunophenotyping as to B- or T-cell was documented in all cases. Three main pathological entities (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, peripheral T-cell lymphoma) were identified and studied thoroughly. The intense cooperation between experts of the ISLG and pathologists of the KCCC proved that the WHO classification was fully reproducible in Kuwait. The high incidence of extranodal lymphomas (53%) observed in the KCCC may not be due to special ethnic or environmental conditions in Kuwait but rather be due to a selection of patients coming to our center.