FREQUENCY OF BONE MARROW INVOLVEMENT IN CASES OF LYMPHOMA: A HOSPITAL BASED OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: In patients with lymphoma, bone marrow involvement is definite evidence of disseminated disease and hence assessment of bone marrow status in these patients provides important information for decisions regarding treatment. Aim: To determine frequency of bone marrow involvement in cases of lymphoma. Results: Out of 60 histologically confirmed lymphoma patients, 51(85%) patients were of Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma and 9 (15%) patients were of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. International working formulation was followed to classify Non Hodgkin Lymphoma into low, intermediate and high grade. The low grade Non Hodgkin lymphoma cases comprised of 41.18% (21/51), high grade 39.21% (20/51) and intermediate grade 19.61% (10/51) cases. Out of 9 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) cases, 8 (88.9%) were of classical type and there was a single case (11.1%) of lymphocytic predominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 25 (41.7%) cases showed bone marrow infiltration by the atypical lymphomatous cells. Bone marrow involvement was seen in 47.05% (24/51) cases of NHL. Among Non Hodgkin lymphoma cases, maximum involvement was seen in low grade NHL 57.14% (12/21) followed by intermediate grade NHL 50% (5/10) & minimum was seen in high grade NHL 35% (7/20). Conclusion: Thorough examination of bone marrow in lymphoma patients can increase the diagnostic accuracy as it may be the single most important finding in a patient with an otherwise localized disease thereby contributing to the prognosis and appropriate treatment modalities.