Spectrum of lymphoma in Bahrain

OBJECTIVES: To determine the spectrum of various types of lymphoma in Bahrain according to the latest World Health Organization classification criteria. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted for all new lymphoma cases diagnosed at Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama, Bahrain during the period from January 2010 to December 2015. Results: Two hundred and twenty-one new cases of lymphoma in Bahraini patients were diagnosed in the study period. Eighty patients had Hodgkin lymphoma, 140 had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and one patient had composite lymphoma. In the Hodgkin lymphoma group, nodular sclerosis type was the most frequent type (48.75%), followed by mixed-cellularity type (27.5%), and nodular-lymphocyte predominant type (16.25%). In the non-Hodgkin lymphoma group, 124 (88.6%) cases were B-cell lymphomas, while the remaining were T-cell lymphomas. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most frequent type of non-Hodgkin B-cell type lymphoma (55.7%), followed by follicular lymphoma (10%). Conclusion: The distribution of lymphoma in Bahrain is similar to neighboring Middle East countries with a predominance of Hodgkin lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.