[Immunoblastic lymphosarcomas. Clinicopathological aspects and course. Retrospective analysis of a series of 50 patients (author's transl)].

The immunoblastosarcoma (IB) was preceeded by another pathological state in almost one third of patients. The clinical picture was often very typical, with large inflammatory node involvement. In one third of cases, the initial site of the tumor was not nodal, but in Waldeyer's ring or a non-lymphoid organ. Analysis of topographic extension indicates a weak propensity to dissemination. The tissues which are the more frequent site of secondary invasion were the lung parenchyma and the subcutaneous tissue. The course was rapid, almost always fatal. Only a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy would seem capable of eradicating the tumour. On the basis of all these characteristics, the IB has a special place alongside other non-Hodgkin lymphomas and they may be individualised histologically. These cases are in general in agreement with the little data published in the literature.