Objective: To assess the incidence and characteristics of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in tonsils of the liver transplanted children.
Methods: All patients under 14 years of age recipients of a liver transplant at the institution and operated on for tonsillectomy under suspicion of malignancy were included in this study.
Results: Seven patients underwent surgery on their tonsils under suspicion of PTLD. One case of B-cell lymphoma, and three cases of polymorphic diffuse B-cell hyperplasia were found. This represents an incidence of 1.4% of PTLD in the tonsils of the 283 pediatric liver transplants performed at the hospital.
Conclusion: The incidence of PTLD in tonsils after liver transplantation is very low at the institution. However, it is very important to follow-up allograft recipients for early diagnosis of this entity.