Childhood follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a case report and review of literature

The majorities of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in children are lymphoblastic lymphoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, anaplastic large cell lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Follicular lymphoma is primarily a disease of adulthood with a median age of 59 years. It is rare in pediatric patients. Childhood follicular lymphoma differs from its adult counterpart in several aspects. We report a rare case of childhood low grade mature B-cell non- Hodgkin's lymphoma wherein the tumour cells were CD20 +, focally bcl-6 +, CD3 -, CD5 -, CD10 -, CD23 -, Cyclin D1 -, bcl-2 -, and had a low ki-67 proliferation index. A diagnosis of follicular lymphoma was made on the basis of the focal bcl-6 positivity. Despite non-intervention in the form of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, the patient remained symptom free even after a followup of 39 months. This case is being reported for its rarity. This is one of the initial case reports on follicular lymphoma in pediatric age group from the Indian subcontinent