An 8-year retrospective study of adult and paediatric Burkitt’s lymphoma at Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa

• Main Authors: Ernest Musekwa, Zivanai C. Chapanduka, Fatima Bassa, Mariana Kruger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AOSIS 2020-04-01
• Series: South African Journal of Oncology
• Subjects: epidemiology; burkitt lymphoma; human immunodeficiency virus; tuberculosis; children; adults; treatment; outcome; south africa
• Online Access: https://sajo.org.za/index.php/sajo/article/view/93
• ISSN: 2518-8704; 2523-0646

Background: Burkitt lymphoma(BL) is a high grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which may be underdiagnosed in South Africa, due to a high burden of infectious diseases such as HIV and TB which may present with similar clinical features. Aim: To describe demographics and clinico-pathological characteristics of patients diagnosed with BL. Setting: Tygerberg Hospital (TBH), South Africa between 2007-2014. Methods: We performed a retrospective descriptive and survival analysis of patients diagnosed with BL at TBH between 01 January 2007 and 31 December 2014 with at least 24-month follow-up. Data was collected from the Tygerberg Lymphoma Study Group database and the South African Children Cancer Study Group Tumour Registry. Results: There were 73 patients with BL, of whom 68 were admitted to TBH and whose data was further analysed. The majority of patients were adults (74%). There was a female predominance in adults and a male predominance in children (p = 0.002). Various regimens were used in adults while a single treatment protocol was used in children. The proportion of patients with HIV and advanced BL was higher in adults than in children. The 2-year overall survival of the treatment group was 45%. The outcome of patients with BL in adults (34%) was poorer than that of children (69%) (p = 0.022). HIV negative patients had a non-significant survival advantage (57%) over HIV positive patients with 41% 2-year overall survival (p = 0.2876). Conclusion: This study demonstrates a better cure rate in children treated for BL compared to adults, with HIV-infection being a risk factor for poor outcome.