Introduction: Although several clinico-pathologic studies on
extra-nodal oral cavity lymphomas have been reported, our
understanding of these tumours is incomplete. This is mainly
because oral lymphomas are quite rare and the opportunity to
apply modern techniques to their classification is limited.
Propose: The aim of this study was to determinate both the
histotype and phenotype of lymphomas presenting in the oral
cavity.
Materials and methods: Cases were classified according to the
World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of
Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues 2001.
Immunohistochemical stains were performed on tissue
microarrays (TMA).
Results: Forty-four cases of non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma
(NHL) and 2 cases of primitive Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma (HL)
were observed, with a slight female predominance (21M;
25F). Forty cases of NHL were primitive of the oral cavity,
while six cases were secondary lesions. NHL were divided
into five groups: 1) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL:
33 cases); 2) follicular lymphoma (FL: 5 cases); 3)
extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZL: 3 cases);
4) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL: 1 case); 5) peripheral T-cell
lymphomas, not otherwise specified (PTCL, NOS: 2 cases).
HL occurred in two males, aged 25 and 65 years respectively.
Both cases were diagnosed as nodular sclerosing HL.
The lesions were variably located in different sites of the oral
cavity, commonly affected sites being the soft and hard palate
and tongue. The most frequent clinical appearance was a submucosal
mass (34 cases). Dental waving was present in 5
cases and actinomycotic infection in one. Six cases appeared
as slightly raised whitish lesions. Two cases (1 NHL and 1
HL) appeared in HIV infected patients.
Conclusion: The present series shows that malignant
lymphomas of the oral cavity more often represent de novo
primary growths. The most frequent event is DLBCL
affecting elderly patients in the palate or tongue. Although
rare, HL should be considered among primary oral cavity
lymphomas
