[Lymphomas in children and adolescents].

BACKGROUND

Lymphomas in children and adolescents differ from adulthood in relative frequency and variety of entities. In addition, young patients are cared for according to the specific standards of pediatric lymphoma study groups.

OBJECTIVE

To present lymphomas of diagnostic and clinical relevance in the pediatric and adolescent group.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Selective literature research ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ) was combined with clinico-pathological experience of the authors.

RESULTS

Children and adolescents are much more likely to suffer from aggressive and precursor cell lymphoma than is the case in adulthood. Unlike adult patients, Burkitt lymphomas and diffuse large B‑cell lymphomas are not treated fundamentally differently. Entities that have been described relatively recently and are particularly common in young patients are high-grade B‑cell lymphoma with 11q aberrations and large-cell B‑cell lymphoma with IRF4 translocations.

CONCLUSION

Lymphoma diagnosis in children and adolescents is characterized by the particular spectrum of diseases that occur at this age. Special knowledge about the clinical relevance of the diagnoses in childhood is helpful in order to enable rapid clinical decision making.