Burkitt lymphoma is a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which occurs predominantly in young (12- 30 years of age), in certain regions of Africa, mostly in form of rapidly growing abdominal (about 90%) or cranial- cervical (10 %) tumors. The Epstein- Barr virus (the microorganism that causes infectious mononucleosis) is a supposed etiologic agent, but direct proof does not exist supporting this theory. In the cranial- cervical region, the majority of Burkitt lymphomas develop as an enlarged cervical lymph node. We present the case of a 9 year old boy, with idiopathic facial paralysis (Bell) as first diagnosed in March 2004 in our ambulatory care unit. We discuss the particularities of the clinical course, the difficulties of the correct diagnosis, the treatment and the follow- up. 4 years have passed since the last chemotherapy session, during this time periodic examinations have been taking place both in our unit (rhinopharyngeal endoscopy, otomicroscopy, CT, blood tests) and in the Pediatric Oncology Institute in Budapest. Our patient is symptom-free, he has a mild conductive type hearing loss as an after- effect, his rhinopharyngeal status is normal. The oncologist’s opinion: healed.
Keywords: lymphoma, Burkitt, paralysis, facial, Bell