Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the testicle. A clinicopathologic study of 19 patients.

To investigate the frequency, clinical and anatomopathologic characteristics of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) present in the testicle as primary or secondary disease, we reviewed the files of the Hematology and Pathology Services of the General Hospital of Mexico, from January 1975 to December 1988. We found 681 cases of NHL in the Hematology Service; of these, 388 (57%) were male and 8 (2%) of them presented testicle involvement. Two were considered as primary disease, 4 as systemic disease and 2 as secondary or late complications. The overall mean age was 49 years. According to the New Working Formulation (NWF), 7 cases corresponded to the intermediate grade of malignancy and one to a plasmacytoma. The mean survival time of the whole group was 3.9 months. In the Pathology Department, the files of 203 autopsies of patients with NHL were reviewed; 124 (61%) were male and 11 (8.9%) of them presented testicle infiltration. In two, the testicular involvement was known before death and in 9 it was found at autopsy. In one case the infiltration was located in the epididimus and in other in the spermatic cords. The mean age of these patients was 50.7 years. In 6 cases there was extranodal infiltration other than in the testicle: 1 in the nose, and 1 in the central nervous system. According to the NWF, 1 was classified as of low malignancy grade, 7 were of the intermediate malignancy, and 3 of high malignancy grade.