Morphological Classification of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas

Lymphomas by definition are those tumors arising from peripheral lymphoreticular tissue and thus exclude the neoplastic proliferations of bone marrow—the leukemias—and the primary tumors of thymus—the thymomas. In practice most lymphomas arise in lymph nodes in the first instance and are thus derived from the lymphoreticular mononuclear phagocytic system of cells (LRMPS). Therefore, before embarking on a description of our classification of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, a brief account will first be given of some of the normal component cells of the lymph node.