Adil EA, et al. - Experts intended to gauge the childhood and adolescent tonsil cancer incidence. Additionally, they sought to determine the clinical characteristics indicative of those patients who would benefit from urgent operative intervention. Findings revealed that pediatric tonsil cancer was rare, with non-Hodgkin lymphoma being responsible for a majority of the pediatric tonsillar malignancies. It was noted that a high index of suspicion was appropriate in children presenting with relatively rapid tonsil enlargement, tonsillar asymmetry characterized by a difference in tonsillar size of ≥2 degrees on the Brodsky scale or concurrent prominent cervical lymphadenopathy.

Methods

• The quantitative tonsil cancer incidence data was cumulated from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 18 database, inclusive of national cancer statistics from 1973 to 2013.
• The design of this research was an institutional retrospective chart review of pediatric patients diagnosed with tonsil malignancy from January 2013 to January 2017.
• Herein, the supplementary qualitative clinical presentation information was determined.

Results

• A total of 138 pediatric patients with tonsil cancer were analyzed with an age-adjusted incidence rate of 0.021/100,000 patients per year.
• Maximum cases appeared to be unilateral (79.7%), with both a male and Caucasian predominance.
• Findings disclosed that non-Hodgkin lymphoma (84.1%) was the most common malignancy, out of which the most common subtypes were Burkitt lymphoma (31.1%), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (26.8%), and follicular lymphoma (10.1%).
• The institutional chart review revealed 5 tonsillar malignancy patients.
• It was determined that maximum subjects had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and all shared a history of rapid tonsillar enlargement over ≤12 weeks.
• In 4 patients, the presence of significant tonsillar asymmetry was noted.
• As per the outcomes, 4 patients additionally illustrated prominent cervical lymphadenopathy.