A retrospective histological study of 9,009 cases of malignant lymphoma in China using the NLPCG classification. The Nationwide Lymphoma Pathology Cooperative Group (NLPCG).

A total of 9,009 cases of malignant lymphoma from 13 provinces in China were reviewed in a retrospective study covering the 10-year period from 1972 to 1981. Of these 9,009 cases, 8,572 were of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), of which 67% were of B-cell type and 28.5% were of T-cell type. Of the NHL, 5.2% showed a follicular pattern, and 30.1% were extranodal upon presentation, the most frequent site being Waldeyer's ring. Hodgkin's disease accounted for 7.9% of the lymphomas in the regions where the cases of this disease were included in the review. Within China, there was a higher incidence of B-cell types in the middle and western parts of the country as well as in Hainan Island (around 83%), while the T-cell types showed a higher incidence (34-45%) in the eastern part (Nanjing, Suzhou-Wuxi and Hangzhou). A few cases of Burkitt's lymphoma were found in the subtropical island of Hainan. The two cities of southwestern China (Chongqing and Chengdu) had a relatively higher frequency of the small lymphocytic type. The data indicate that the lymphomas in China, unlike those in the U.S.A. and Europe, are fairly similar to those in Japan in distribution of their subtypes, with the exception of the western part of China, where there is a tendency to approximate those in the Western countries.