DEFINITION

Neoplasms of lymphocytes usually represent malignant counterparts of cells at discrete stages of normal lymphocyte differentiation. When bone marrow and peripheral blood involvement dominate the clinical picture, the disease is classified as a lymphoid leukemia. When lymph nodes and/or other extranodal sites of disease are the dominant site(s) of involvement, the tumor is called a lymphoma. The distinction between lymphoma and leukemia is sometimes blurred; e.g., small lymphocytic lymphoma and chronic lymphoid leukemia are tumors of the same cell type and are distinguished arbitrarily on the basis of the absolute number of peripheral blood lymphocytes (>5 × 10⁹/L defines leukemia).