The pattern of malignant lymphoma in Oman.

The pattern of malignant lymphoma (ML) in the Middle East has not been well documented and constitutes a lacuna in the epidemiology of this disease. This preliminary report describes a retrospective study of 46 native Omanis who, at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital and the Royal Hospital, Sultanate of Oman, were diagnosed in 1990 as having ML. Of the 46 patients with ML, 16 (35%) were found to have Hodgkin's disease (HD) and 30 (65%) had non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). Among the HD, mixed cellularity (MC) appeared in 9 cases (56%). Among the NHL, 25 (83%) showed a diffuse pattern and 5 (17%) were follicular. Twenty-one (70%) of the NHL were of high-grade type, of which 5 (17%) were Burkitt-like lymphomas. Immunological study of the NHL biopsies revealed 24 (80%) of the B cell type, 2 (7%) of the T-cell type, 1 (3%) of the null cell type and 3 (10%) could not be classified because of scanty material or unsatisfactory fixation. We present in this study the pattern of ML in Oman, which was found to be different from those reported from the West, Far East and Saudi Arabia, with some resemblance to the pattern from tropical Africa.