Burkitt’s Lymphoma of the Abdomen: The Northern California Kaiser Permanente Experience

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We retrospectively reviewed the experience of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region (KPNCR) with Burkitt’s lymphoma and studied patients with abdominal Burkitt’s lymphoma. During a 16-year period from 1987-2002, 7868 patients with lymphoma were entered into the California Cancer Registry (CCR) of KPNCR. Of these patients, 121 patients (1.5%) were found to be Burkitt’s type of lymphoma. Of the 121 patients, 36 were associated with HIV infection and an additional 35 patients hadBurkitt’s lymphoma presenting at a site outside of the abdomen The charts and computerized medical records of 50 cases of abdominal Burkitt’s lymphoma form the basis of this study. Of these 50 patients with intra-abdominal Burkitt’s lymphoma, involvement of mesenteric, retroperitoneal or pelvic structures was so extensive that the diagnosis was made by fine-needle aspiration, core biopsy or biopsy of a regional lymph node in 24 patients. Investigation of vague upper gastrointestinal symptoms led to CT scan and endoscopic stomach biopsy which demonstrated involvement with Burkitt’s lymphoma in three patients. Seven additional patients had open biopsies of large intraabdominal masses showing Burkitt’s lymphoma. The primary treatment of these patients was chemotherapy. Sixteen patients from the CCR had surgical exploration and resection of their tumor. One patient had disease of the jejunum. Two patients had isolated disease of ileum. Seven had disease of the ileum and cecum and six were felt to have disease primarily of cecum. When possible, abdominal Burkitt’s lymphoma was resected. All patients were also treated with chemotherapy.