Study on the Bone Marrow Involvement of Malignant Lymphoma

In order to detect the bone marrow involvement of malignant lymphoma , 145 cases of malignant lymphoma were examined at the Department of Clinical Pathology, Seoul National University Hospital from January, 1981 to June , 1983. The 145 cases consisted of 125 cases of non· Hodgkin s lymphoma and 20 cases of Hodgkins disease. The 51 out of 145 cases (35.2%) showed bone marrow involvement; 45 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 6 cases of Hodgkins idsease. The bone marrow involvement rate was 36.0% in non-Hodgkin s lymphoma; subtypically 25.0% in diffuse histiocytic type, 53.3% in diffuse lymphocytic poorly differentiated type , 55.6% in lymphoblastic type and 33.3% in undifferentiated Burlitt type. The degree and pattern of bone marrow involvement and the presence of fibrosis was various , depending on subtypes. Malignant cells were detected in the peripheral blood in 28 cases(62.2%) , and 6 cases of them illustrated the leukemic picture. The pattern of bone marrow involvement of non·Hodgkin s lymphoma was variable, that is, diffuse, focal, paratrabecular or packed. The morphology of malignant lymphoid cells in the bone marrow was quite similar to those in lyrophnodes. The bone marrow involvement in Hodgkins disease was 30.0% (6 cases out of 20 cases). Most of the cases of bone marrow-involved Hodgkins disease showed anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and B symptoms such as night sweat , fever and weight loss. The presence of Reed-Sternberg cells, and/or abnormal large mononuclear cells with diffuse fibrosis in the bone marrow was considered as the diagnostic points of bone marrow involvemen