INTUSSUSCEPTION IN A CHILD WITH SPORADIC BURKITT LYMPHOMA

Abstract

Introduction. Burkitt Lymphoma is a high grade lymphoma and it represents 8-10 % of all tumors in children less than 15 years old. There are two forms of Burkitt Lymphoma (BL): endemic and sporadic, that are indistinguishable by histology, but they have got a different geographical distribution. The sporadic form more commonly has an abdominal presentation. About eighty percent of these patients has predominantly intussusceptions. Materials and methods. We report a 5 years old girl with spasmodic abdominal pain who was addimitted in our Clinic. We diagnosed an intussusception by clinical examination and abdominal ultrasound scan. We decided to perform an emergency operation and we found a single pedicle neoformation on the anti-mesenteric wall of ileum, that was the patologic lead point. We reduced the intussusception and we resected the neoformation and a small length of ileum (about 4 cm). We performed a single-layer end-to-end ileo-ileum anastomosis and the appendicectomy. The histopathological examination and the immunohistochemistry study revealed a Burkitt Lymphoma. Results. The patient was dismissed on eighth postoperative day and she was referred to Pediatric Oncology Center for chemotherapy. The child was graded second class (R2) because lymph-nodes sampling was not performed and LDH levels were lower 500 U/l. Conclusions. The mayority of sporadic Burkitt Lymphoma patients presents with abdominal disease that required a laparotomy. The presenting symptoms included: an abdominal mass, intestinal obstruction, intussusceptions as acute abdomen. The role of surgery is very controversial. However, it’s required to confirm the diagnosis in the presence of extensive intrabdominal disease and to relieve the common presenting symptoms in the presence of acute abdomen. Some Authors argue that Surgery is important in the management of the complications.