Distribution of lymphoid neoplasms in the Republic of Korea: Analysis of 5318 cases according to the World Health Organization classification

Abstract

Compared with the West, the overall incidence of lymphoid neoplasms is lower, and the subtype distribution is distinct in Asia. To comprehensively investigate the subtype distribution with the age and sex factors, and temporal changes of subtype proportions, we re-assessed all patients with lymphoid neoplasms diagnosed at a large oncology service in the Republic of Korea from 1989 to 2008 using the World Health Organization classifications. Of the total 5,318 patients, 66.9% had mature B-cell neoplasms, 12.5% had mature T/natural killer (NK)-cell neoplasms, 16.4% had precursor lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (ALL/LBL), and 4.1% had Hodgkin's lymphoma. The most common subtypes were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (30.5%), plasma cell myeloma (14.0%), extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue type (MALT lymphoma; 12.4%), B-cell ALL/LBL (11.3%), Hodgkin's lymphoma (4.1%), peripheral T-cell lymphoma unspecified (4.0%), T-cell ALL/LBL (3.9%), and extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma of nasal type (3.9%). Most subtypes showed male predominance, with an average M/F ratio of 1.3. Most mature lymphoid neoplasms were diseases of adults (mean age, 53.5 yr), whereas ALL/LBLs were of young individuals (mean age, 20.3 yr). When the relative proportion of subtypes were compared between two decades (1989-1998 vs. 1999-2008), especially MALT lymphoma has increased in proportion, whereas T/NK-cell neoplasms and ALL/LBL have slightly decreased. In summary, the lymphoid neoplasms of Koreans shared some epidemiologic features similar to those of other countries, whereas some subtypes showed distinct features. Although the increase in incidence of lymphoid neoplasms is relatively modest in Korea, recent increase of MALT lymphoma and decrease of T/NK-cell neoplasms and ALL/LBL are interesting findings. Am. J. Hematol. 85:760-764, 2010. V V C 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. IntroductionLymphoid neoplasms are a diverse group of neoplasms with different clinical presentations, histology, and biology [1,2]. Recent revolutionary advances in immunology, genetics, and molecular biology have resulted in extensive changes in the classifications of these tumors, culminating in the Revised European-American classification (1994) and its successor, the World Health Organization (WHO) classification (2001 and 2008) [1][2][3]. Both Revised European-American and WHO classifications encompass not only Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) but also plasma cell neoplasm and lymphoid leukemia, acknowledging that lymphoma and lymphoid leukemia represent solid and circulating phases, respectively, of the same disease [1][2][3]. Lymphoid neoplasms are the sixth most common malignancy worldwide [4,5], but there are marked geographic variations, with the highest rates observed in North America and Australia, followed by Europe, and lower rates throughout Asia [4,5].There are ethnic and regional differences in the distribution of subtypes. For example, populations of Asian countries have higher proportions of mature T/natural k...

Type Distribution of Lymphomas in Lebanon: Five-Year Single Institution Experience

“…Follicular lymphomas (FL) represent nearly 20% of all NHL in our study. This is a relatively high percentage when compared to the FL percentage in China (9%) (Yang et al, 2011), Korea (3%) (Yoon et al, 2010) and US (10%) (Wu et al, 2009), where FL represents less than 10% of all NHL. Similarly a high proportion of FL is described in the French population (20%) (Troussard et al, 2009) (Table 2).…”

“…In Asia, HL incidence doesn't exceed the 5% in Korea (Yoon et al, 2010) and in China 13% (Yang et al, 2011). In developed countries, HL represents 9% of all lymphoma cases in the US (Morton et al, 2006), 13% in England (Lowry and Linch, 2013) and 16% in France (Troussard et al, 2009).…”

“…Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) represents 8% of all B-cell neoplasms, which exceeds by far the percentage of MCL in Saudi Arabia (2%) (Akhtar et al, 2009), Korea (3%) (Yoon et al, 2010), Thailand (1%) (Sukpanichnant, 2004), USA (3%) (Wu et al, 2009) and France (4%) (Troussard et al, 2009) (Table 2). Table 2 -2012 2007 1992-2005 1988-2007 2000-2008 2001-2006 1989-2008 1993-2002 1995-2007 1999-2003 1992-2001 2009 1997-2004 Number of lymphoma cases 502 The distribution of different lymphoma subtypes in the Lebanese population shows similarities to that reported in the French and Turkish populations.…”

Primary Extra Nodal Non Hodgkin Lymphoma: A 5 Year Retrospective Analysis

“…A previous pioneer study from North India has shown the incidence to be 44% (106 of 241 cases of NHLs over a 3 year period) (Singh et al, 2003). However, the incidence of pENL has been shown to be very high in neighbouring Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (up to 50%) (Nagi et al, 2011), Kuwait (45%) (Temmim et al, 2004), Northern Iraq (48.3%) (Yaqo et al, 2011), Taiwan (47.2%) (Chen et al, 2010), Japan (46.6%) (Fujita et al, 2009), Korea (55%) (Yoon et al, 2010), Thailand (58.7%), and China (44.9%-61.4%) (Yang et al, 2011).…”

“…), skin, central nervous system (CNS), bone, testis, thyroid, breast, orbit, and rarely adrenal, pancreas, and the genitourinary tract (Singh et al, 2003;Temmim et al, 2004;Al Shemmari et al, 2008;Aoki et al, 2008;Gross et al, 2008;Lal et al, 2008;Fujita et al, 2009;Chen et al, 2010;Yoon et al, 2010;Yun et al, 2010;Arora et al, 2011;Nagi et al, 2011;Yaqo et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2011).…”