Pattern of organ involvement in Burkitt's lymphoma in Ibadan: a review.

A retrospective study was conducted on 127 patients with Burkitt's lymphoma who had partial or complete records of both clinical and pathologic features of their disease. An analysis and description of the anatomical tumor distribution based on post-mortem examinations was made, highlighting lack of correlation between clinical staging and pathologic findings. A consistent observation was the high incidence of involvement of the kidney, liver, and heart in each of the stages (I-III).The data to be presented will clarify at least in part, the unpredictability of response of Burkitt's lymphoma patients to chemotherapeutic agents, because total cell-kill, needed for cure and/or prevention of relapse, is made almost impossible due to the widespread tumor volume carried by the patients.Effective supportive treatment might be a life-saving adjuvant regimen in treatment of Burkitt's lymphoma patients, where the organs so commonly involved might fail to function.