Comparison of clinical diagnoses and autopsy findings in 54 cases with lymphoid neoplasms

There are few systematic analyses on autopsy findings of patients with lymphoid neoplasms. Autopsy cases with (n = 54) and without (n = 50) lymphoid neoplasms were compared for this study. Neoplasms found were B cell lymphomas (n = 30/54, 56%), plasmacytomas (n = 15/54, 28%), T cell lymphomas (n = 7/54, 13%), Hodgkin lymphomas (n = 2/54, 3%) and solid tumours (n = 7/54, 13%). In the control group, 12/50 (24%) cases had solid tumours. Autopsy alone identified the previously unknown lymphoid neoplasm in 10/54 (18%) cases, whilst only 1/50 (2%) previously unknown carcinoma was found in the control group. Cardiac/respiratory failure was the most frequent cause of death in the lymphoid neoplasm group (n = 35/54, 65%) as well as in the control group (n = 36/50, 72%). In 8/54 (15%) cases with lymphoid neoplasms and 5/50 (10%) control cases, class I discrepancies were found. This study shows the high rate of autopsy-verified lymphoid neoplasms and unrecognised co-morbidities.