Background: Although the histologic changes in lymph nodes in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) are well described, the histology and resulting clinical symptoms of hyperplastic nasopharyngeal lymphoid tissue (NPLT) in these patients are not widely known, particularly to pathologists and oncologists.
Methods: Nine patients with HIV-1 presented with a nasopharyngeal mass, nasal stuffiness, nasal bleeding, hearing loss, and cervical lymphadenopathy in various combinations. Tonsillar tissue was biopsied or removed from all nine.
Results: The tonsillar tissue showed a spectrum of the changes of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia.
Conclusions: Clinicians and pathologists must be aware of the spectrum of histologic changes and clinical features relating to biopsies from NPLT to interpret the changes correctly and to avoid a misdiagnosis of malignant lymphoma.