Burkitt lymphoma in a girl from Botswana

Abstract

Burkitt lymphoma is a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is one of the fastest-growing malignant tumors in human beings, with a high degree of malignancy, undifferentiated and diffuse, that most commonly occurs in children. Nowadays there are three types of Burkitt lymphoma: the endemic variant (African variant), the sporadic type (American variant) and the immunodeficiency-associated type. This study presents the case of a 2-year-old girl with high fever of three months of progress, cervical lymphadenopathy, tooth blackening, facial edema with tumoral mass, hypertelorism, bilateral proptosis with moderate chemosis in the left eye and severe in the right eye. She had limitation of the ocular motility. Lab studies were ordered, as well as abdominal ultrasound, chest x-ray and skull and orbit CT scan. Treatment was started for a diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma, which was confirmed with the histological study. Chemotherapy cycles were performed and oncology follow-ups were conducted. There was a clinical improvement of chemosis and proptosis, with a normal ophthalmoscopy. In spite of the favorable clinical response after the first week, prognosis of the case progress was guarded.

Keywords

• ophthalmology
• burkitt lymphoma
• lymphoma, non-hodgkin
• neoplasms