Abstract

PINILLA, Rafael; LOPEZ, Sarah; QUINTANA, Juan Carlos  and  AL-MALAHY, Ahmed Al-Ezzi. Burkitt lymphoma in abdominal location: two cases operated on at Al-Wadah Hospital, Maabar, Yemen. rev. colomb. cir. [online]. 2009, vol.24, n.2, pp.106-113. ISSN 2011-7582.

Introduction: Nonendemic Burkitt´s lymphoma is a tumor of frequent abdominal presentation, especially in children and young adults. Although chemotherapy is the preferred therapeutic modality, there is controversy around the role of surgery, particularly in those cases where the diagnosis is established at the time of an exploratory laparotomy. Materials and methods: We report two cases: an adolescent male 14 years of age that exhibited a hypogastric mass and a rapidly growing smaller mass located in the right iliac fossa; both masses were totally excised and the patient was referred for chemotherapy. And a 13 year old female adolescent with a tumor located in the left hypochondrium and flank. Resection of the entire mass was performed and she was referred for chemotherapy. Results and discussion: The indication for the surgical treatment of Burkitt´s lymphoma has not yet been clearly defined. Some authors are against surgery and argue that the operation may delay treatment and yield complications, while other authors defend surgical treatment for reducing tumor mass for better results with chemotherapy. The controversy is quite pertinent when the diagnosis is established during an exploratory laparotomy, since at that time the surgeon must decide if resection should be done or not, taking especial precaution in reference to the potential acute renal failure associated with chemotherapy. Pertaining our two cases, we decided to macroscopically excise the entire tumor masses, and the good results in our patients as well as the results reported by other authors support this modality.

Keywords : lymphoma; lymphoma; Burkitt’s; abdomen; clinical evolution; diagnosis; laparotomy.

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