Spontaneous Remission Of African Lymphoma
British Journal of Cancer 21(1): March 1967; 14-16
View Original Source →Abstract
Two hundred nine cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma have been analyzed retrospectively for the occurrence of spontaneous regression (SR). Complete, partial or minor SR was found in 18 out of 140 cases with nodular lymphoma and in 2 out of 69 cases with diffuse lymphoma. Thus, SR occurs far more frequently in nodular lymphoma than in the diffuse type. Within the nodular lymphoma group, SR is associated with long survival. It occurred in previously treated and untreated patients and in nodal and extranodal disease; the duration varied from a few weeks to many years but lasted one year or more in 7 cases with complete or partial SR.
Case Details
Personal Characteristics
A married woman aged 36, breast-feeding a 5-month-old child
Clinical Characteristics
Massive bilateral breast lymphomata and a tumour on her right shoulder
Remission Characteristics
She did not return for 6 weeks, and by this time all evidence of tumour had disappeared. She was last seen in mid-august when she was symptom-free.
Treatment & Mechanisms
Proposed Remission Mechanisms
Not discussed
Clinical Treatment
As there was difficulty in tracing the report of this a second biopsy was taken. Both biopsies showed the typical features of african lymphoma. Therapy was postponed in order to ascertain whether administration of cyclophosphamide would, through the milk, have any deleterious effect on the child.
Additional Notes
These tumours had been present for two months, and a biopsy had been taken at another hospital before her arrival at Mulago Hospital.