A clinicopathological and immunophenotypic study of nodal Hodgkin’s lymphomas

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a B cell lymphoma, the diagnosis of which is characterized by the presence of neoplastic Hodgkin’s/Reed Sternberg cells (HRS) and the unique cellular microenvironment. Clinical examinations, morphology and immunophenotypic study aids in the accurate diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL). The literature available on the clinicopathological and immunohistochemistry (IHC) profile of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Indian population is inadequate. This study was carried out to describe the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical profile of patients in an Indian tertiary care hospital.   Methodology: An observational, descriptive study was carried out and included all diagnosed cases of nodal HL for a period of 4 and half years. The demographic details and common clinical presentation were retrieved from the records. The Haematoxylin and eosin (H and E) slides and IHC stained slides for CD15, CD30, CD20, LCA and CD3 were retrieved and studied. Each case was assigned to one of the following histological subtypes. mixed cellularity (MC), nodular sclerosis (NS), lymphocyte rich (LR), lymphocyte depleted (LD) and nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NLPHL). Those cases where histological subtyping could not be done due to equivocal features were grouped as unclassifiable.   Results: A total number of 65 cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma were included. A unimodal distribution and male preponderance was noted. The subtype of Mixed cellularity predominated the series followed by nodular sclerosis, lymphocyte rich and lymphocyte depleted. There was only one case of Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Immunoreactivity of CD 30 was seen in all cases of classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.   Conclusion: Our study reaffirms the findings from previous research ,highlighting the difference in clinicopathological profile of HL from its western counterpart. The usage of immunohistochemistry should be done for all cases of HL since it aids in the diagnosis and also in identification of potential therapeutic targets.