Burkitt's lymphoma--a correlated light and electron microscopic study on the malignancy in the CSF.

In a sporadic case of primary maxillar Burkitt's lymphoma and secondary spinal epidural dissemination, the massive malignancy in the CSF was investigated by light and electron microscopy. At both levels the CSF tumor cells were strikingly similar, with the undifferentiated lymphoblasts that characterize Burkitt's lymphoma in tissue. However, the starry-sky appearance in the CSF was produced more often by degenerating malignant cells than by histiocytes as classically described in tissue with Burkitt's lymphoma.