Abstract

Non- Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) is a clonal proliferation of lymphatic tissues. It still occurs in this part of the world but most times may be misdiagnosed and leads to serious problem to the patients. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and falciparum malaria are endemic here and increase chances of suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The study was done to determine the changes associated with non-Hodgkins lymphoma on haematological parameters in subjects in Enugu, South East, Nigeria. The study was done a secondary health institution in Enugu State, Nigeria. The study is a hospital based prospective cross sectional study using purposive sampling technique from January 2015 to July 2017. The subjects comprised of a total of eighty (80) subjects, 40 subjects were non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients aged 29-75 years (15 females and 25 males) and 40 (20 females, 20 males) subjects were apparently healthy individuals aged matched as the control. The results were presented in tables as mean and standard deviation and student t-test used for analysis and the level of significance was set at P<0.05. The haematological investigations were done using Mindray BC- 5300. The results showed significant increase (P<0.05) in WBC, Neutrophil, Monocytes, and Eosinophil of the non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) subjects (16.25±3.7 X10⁹/L, 90.3±5.2%, 2.3±0.3%, 0.4±0.1%) compared to the control (5.23±1.2 X10⁹/L, 67.5±6.7%, 30.7±5.6%, 0.2±0.1%), significant decrease (P<0.05) in Lymphocyte, red blood cell, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin, mean cell haemoglobin concentration and platelets of the non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) subjects (6.8±1.2%, 3.62±0.68 X10¹²/L,10.3±1.5g/dl, 30.8±5.1%, 85.0±10.4fl, 28.5±2.3pg, 335.0±21.0g/dl, 208.0±16.0 X109/L) compared to the control (30.7±5.6%, 4.73±0.49 X10¹²/L, 92.0±15.2fl, 30.0±4.6pg, 350.0±25.0g/l, 250.0±20.0 X109/L) and no significant difference (P>0.05) in basophil of the non- Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) subjects (0.2±0.1%) compared to the control (0.1±0.1%) respectively. It study shows that non-Hodgkins lymphoma suppresses red blood cell, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, red cell indices and platelets and increases total white cell, neutrophil and monocytes. This will be of diagnostic and prognostic help to the oncologists and the patients.

Keywords: Haematological changes; Non Hodgkin lymphoma subjects; Enugu; Nigeria