Abstract
ABSTRACT Background: Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) are primary neoplasms derived from lymphocytes, and Kaposi’s sarcoma (SK) is a multicentric disease of viral etiology and is associated with HIV. Aim: To study the etiopathogenesis and clinical characteristics of NHL and KS, describing their mutual factors. Methods: This retrospective investigation was performed on 101 medical charts. The patients were studied according to their age, gender, and HIV-positivity, following the PRISMA guidelines. The characteristics of the tumors and comorbidities were analyzed according to their age and lymphatic metastasis. Results: The mean age of the patients ranged between 15-87 years for NHL and between 25-54 for KS, but the age of patients with NHL associated with HIV did not surpass 34 years. The ratio male: female was 1,8:1 for NHL, but only men presented KS. HIV-positivity was found in five patients with NHL and in 14 with KS. The stages of NHL were: I (21%), II (18,4%), III (26,3%), and IV (34,2%), but KS were found only at III (40%) and IV (60%) stages. The lymphatic metastases were positive in 62 patients NHL and in four with KS. HIV-positivity occurred in 60% of patients with NHL and in 50% with KS. Conclusion: The HIV seropositivity was revealed for most of patients during the NHL and SK propaedeutic and none of them present clinical manifestations of AIDS. NHL associated with HIV was found only in young patients. NHL and KS patients have similar epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic characteristics.
Highlights
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) are primary neoplasms derived from lymphocytes, which are manifested as solid tumors in lymph nodes, oropharyngeal structures, spleen, gastrointestinal submucosa, liver, bone marrow and lung[1,19]
Recent research points to the KSHV/HHV8 virus as being the main responsible for this disorder[4,5,6]
The 101 consecutive charts were related to NHL (n=86) and sarcoma de Kaposi (SK) (n=15), 70 were men and 31 women, with a male prevalence of 2.3:1
Summary
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) are primary neoplasms derived from lymphocytes, which are manifested as solid tumors in lymph nodes, oropharyngeal structures, spleen, gastrointestinal submucosa, liver, bone marrow and lung[1,19]. The small number of NHL patients in Africa may be ascribed to the early high mortality from infectious diseases and malnutrition, in general before the age of 40, when this tumor starts to be present[13,14,15,16]. Patients undergoing kidney transplantation, whose immune system is depressed by immunosuppressants, develop NHL 40 to 100 times more than the general population[6] Several viruses, such as HIV, have been linked to these lymphomas[7,8,9,11] and to adult T-lymphocyte leukemia. There are environmental risk factors found in pesticides and herbicides, mainly 2,4-D, as well as in toxic industrial substances Workers on those products present a higher incidence of NHL than in the general population[17,18]. The role of toxic substances in the etiopathogenesis of NHL has not been established
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
