Pathological variables determining the prognosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

Role of ancillary techniques in diagnosing and subclassifying non-Hodgkin's lymphomas on fine needle aspiration cytology

Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) are tumours of the lymphoid cells. During the process of development of lymphoid cells, neoplasia may evolve at any point. Neoplastic cells usually carry the imprint of cell of origin at the stage of origin. Various types of NHL may have similar morphology with wide variation in origin, immunophenotype and other biological features. Different ancillary laboratory techniques may help to overcome the limitations of morphology in this aspect. The commonly used ancillary techniques in lymphomas are immunocytochemistry (IC), flow cytometry, Southern blot (SB) technique, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). In addition, laser scanning cytometry (LSC) and DNA microarray technologies are in the research phase. Various laboratory techniques are used for immunophenotyping, demonstration of monoclonality, identification of chromosomal translocation, assessment of cell kinetics and expression of mRNA in the tumour cells. Flow cytometry helps in rapid immunophenotying of NHL and it has an added advantage over IC in recognizing the co-expression of CD markers. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) combined with flow immunophenotyping may help us to diagnose and subclassify certain NHLs, such as follicular lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, which were previously recognized as pure morphological entities. Loss of morphology is one of the important limitations of flow cytometry. LSC can overcome this limitation by studying morphology along with the immunophenotyping pattern of individual cells. Chromosomal changes in NHL can be identified by SB, PCR and FISH. Molecular diagnosis of NHL helps in diagnosis, subclassification, prognostic assessment and even in planning of therapy. DNA microarray is a relatively newer and promising technology. It gives information about the expression of several thousands of genes in a tumour in a single experiment. In the near future, FNAC combined with ancillary techniques may play a major role in diagnosis, subclassification and management of lymphomas.

Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the breast. A clinicopathologic study of 31 cases

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the breast is a rare neoplasm for which survival data vary among the reported studies. Thirty-one cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the breast, which had been seen in consultation from 1973 to 1985 at our institution, were reviewed. This represents the largest number of lymphomas of this histologic subtype reported to date in the English literature. Histologic examination and immunophenotypic analysis were performed and the results were correlated with clinicopathologic data. The patient population consisted of 29 females and 2 males with a mean patient age of 58.2 years. At the time of diagnosis, 26 patients had unilateral involvement (16 left, 10 right), and 5 had bilateral disease. Mean tumor size was 3.8 cm. Histologically, all cases showed a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma as classified by the Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms (R.E.A.L Classification). Immunophenotypic studies on paraffin sections confirmed a B-cell lineage in every case. The majority of patients received chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. The median survival was 36 months, confirming that this neoplasm has a poor prognosis.