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This paper presents a review of Burkitt's lymphoma of the jaws seen at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. The debate on certain aspects of the disease, particularly the pathogenesis, has also been reviewed, while the experience gained in the management has been included.

7 Sudanese patients, 4 females and 3 males, aged 15 to 56 years, were seen with a preoperative diagnosis of odontogenic cyst. The lesions were removed via conservative surgical enucleation. The histological interpretation was unicystic ameloblastoma. Despite the conservative treatment, all 7 patients are free of recurrence up to 6 years after surgery.

A case of histopathologically proven Burkitt's lymphoma is described with special reference to clinical, serological and immunological features. This case report is followed by a review of the literature on the problem of American and African Burkitt's lymphoma. We can state that there is good correspondence between the white and black Burkitt's lymphomas with regard to epidemiology, histopathology, therapy and some immunological aspects. The two groups differ from each other in age, primary tumor manifestation, involvement of the bone marrow at time of diagnosis and quantitatively in the positive EBNA-test. It is therefore suggested that black and white Burkitt's lymphoma are not different diseases but different patterns of one disease.

The clinical features, incidence and pattern of jaw involvement, and seasonal occurrence in relation to 22 patients with Burkitt's lymphoma in the Cape province and Southwest Africa were analyzed. The mean age, male dominance, and pattern of organ involvement paralleled typical African Burkitt's lymphoma. Development of the patients' disease was more likely during the rainy season. The frequency and pattern of jaw involvement resembled typical African Burkitt's lymphoma. The frequency of jaw involvement was similar in white and nonwhite patients. Members of all racial groups had typical African Burkitt's lymphoma.