Case Report

Nasopharyngeal Lymphoma in a developing Community

Wilson I B Onuigbo*

Department of Pathology, Medical Foundation and Clinic, Nigeria

Submission: December 18, 2018; Published: February 06, 2019

*Corresponding author: Wilson IB Onuigbo, Department of Pathology, Medical Foundation and Clinic, 8, Nsukka Lane, Enugu 400001, Nigeria

How to cite this article: Wilson I O. Nasopharyngeal Lymphoma in a developing Community. Int J cell Sci & mol biol. 2019; 5(4): 555670. 5(4): 555670. DOI: 10.19080/IJCSMB.2019.05.555670.

Abstract

The nasopharyngeal lymphoma has been reported from countries as far apart as China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Morocco, Tunisia, and USA. Therefore, this report comes from Nigeria with special reference to the Ibo ethnic group. It was found that mostly young patients of either sex were involved. Follow-up data are not available.

Keywords: Nasopharynx; Lymphoma; Age; Nigeria; Ibos

Introduction

Squamous cell carcinoma is defined as “a malignant epithelial neoplasm exhibiting squamous differentiation as characterized by the formation of keratin and/or the presence of intercellular bridges” [1]. This was illustrated in a case report from India [1] as well as from Saudi Arabia [2] and from the UK [3]. Therefore, this paper presents a series from the Ibo ethnic group’s developing community [4], this being done on account of the author’s headship of a histopathology data pool such as the one fostered by a Birmingham (UK) group [5]. To facilitate matters, the tabular form is used as shown hereunder.

Investigation

As the pioneer pathologist in charge of the Regional Pathology Laboratory established in Enugu by the Regional Government, I was able to provide Histology Request Forms which stipulated the required epidemiological data. Moreover, as I kept personal copies of all the results, their analysis was facilitated as in this study.

Results

The tabular form is deemed to be practicable Table 1

Discussion

The cohort consisted of 5 patients. It is clear that relatively young patients were involved. In this context, as the US authors generalized concerning nasopharyngeal malignancies in children, “They are, almost without exception, either lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcomas or nasopharyngeal carcinomas” [14]. Curiously, of the single case reports from India [6], and Korea [8], both were old. Indeed, in the publications dealing with numerous cases, the mean age was 46 years in China [3], 52.7 years in another Chinese report [9], and 59.3 years in USA [11]. In contrast, the local mean age is only 27 years. As for sex, our cohort showed male preponderance of 5 out of the 8 cases. The ratio was 84 males to 28 females in China [3].

Incidentally, unlike these series in which the treatment was at issue, as it was in China [1-4], the present paper differs. Thus, the practice here is to make the diagnosis available to the clinicians who provided the biopsy itself. The doctors were encouraged to even hazard a provisional diagnosis. Apparently, although all were impressed by the malignant disposition, only three correct diagnoses were made in terms of lymphoma.

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