The role of surgery in American Burkitt's lymphoma in children

Abstract

The records of 28 children with the pathological diagnosis of American Burkitt's lymphoma were reviewed. Twenty-three of these children (82%) presented with primary abdominal tumors and 5 with disease located in the head and neck. Twelve required an emergency operation for either intestinal obstruction (3), intussusception (5), or appendicitis (4); the others underwent an elective exploration for tissue diagnosis. Ten patients had disease localized to one particular site. Seven of these 10 children underwent complete resection of the tumor including a right colectomy (4), small bowel segmental resection (1), tonsillectomy (1), and appendectomy (1). Eight children had a subtotal resection of the tumor (P < .05). In those children who had complete resection of their tumor, survival time was greater than 3.7 years. Despite the relatively small number of patients in this series, these results suggest that surgical intervention for either primary control of the tumor or for management of complications occurring during the medical treatment of this disease may be responsible for the increased survival presently seen in children with American Burkitt's lymphoma.