Head and neck lymphoma in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

A marked increase has recently been noted in the incidence of lymphoma in patients with AIDS. These lymphomas are generally high-grade, of B-cell origin, and often involve extranodal sites. Reported here are twenty patients with AIDS in whom symptoms and physical findings developed related to the head and neck region as a result of lymphoma. The tumor was observed in a variety of sites, including the nasopharynx, orbit, submandibular triangle, anterior and posterior cervical triangles, supraclavicular fossa, and the hypopharynx. Sixteen tumors were large cell nonHodgkin's B-cell lymphomas, three were small cell nonHodgkin's B-cell lymphomas, and one was Hodgkin's disease, mixed cellularity. All were treated with combination chemotherapy. A high degree of suspicion for lymphoma is required in treating any patient with AIDS who has a rapidly enlarging mass in the head and neck. If needle aspiration is nondiagnostic, excisional biopsy should be performed after a complete head and neck evaluation. Although the development of lymphoma associated with AIDS portends a grave prognosis, prompt diagnosis will allow an improved chance of remission of the lymphoma.