Childhood lymphoma in Saudi Arabia: experience at the King Khalid National Guard Hospital.

A review of twenty two cases of childhood non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) seen at the King Khalid National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between January 1985 and June 1993 was done. The mean age of occurrence was 7.2 years with a male to female ratio of 2.7:1. The commonly seen NHLs were the high grade tumours (95%), mainly lymphoblastic and Burkitt's type lymphomas. Most cases (45.5%) presented with lymph node enlargement of the head and neck region. All cases of Burkitt's lymphoma presented as abdominal masses with either intestinal, ovarian or mesenteric involvement. Most of the lymphomas (61%) were of B-cell phenotype and 22% were of T-cell type.