[Malignant lymphomas in childhood in Sichuan province--a clinicopathological analysis of 304 cases].

A clinicopathological study of 304 cases of malignant lymphomas (ML) in children in Sichuan province is reported. One hundred and sixty of them were Hodgkin's disease (HD). The ratio between males and females was 5.7 to 1. The disease was more prevalent in children aged from 5 to 9. Cervical lymph nodes were more easily involved. Extra-nodal HD wasn't found in these cases. When subtypes of HD were concerned 62.5% of cases belonged to mixed-cellularity HD. The prognosis of HD was better than that of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The remaining 144 cases were NHL. The ratio between males and females was 3.4 to 1. The disease was more prevalent in children aged from 4 to 14. Eighty four percent of NHL primarily originated from superficial lymph nodes and the other 16.0% of NHL was of extranodal involvement. Seventy two point nine percent of cases in this group was of high grade malignancy. Among them the lymphoblastic type of NHL occupied 44.5%. On the other hand, the follicular type of NHL was rare (0.7%). The specialities of malignant lymphomas in childhood in China are also discussed in the present report.