Primary hepatic lymphoma in a patient with previous rectal adenocarcinoma: a case report and discussion of etiopathogenesis and diagnostic tools

Int J Hematol. 2012 Mar;95(3):320-3. doi: 10.1007/s12185-012-1025-x. Epub 2012 Feb 21.

Abstract

Primary hepatic lymphoma is an extremely rare malignancy accounting for 0.016% of all cases of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Approximately 1-4% of histologies described show a follicular pattern. We report a case of primary hepatic non-Hodgkin lymphoma that developed in a middle-aged woman 3 years after radical treatment (neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery) for a rectal adenocarcinoma. Abdomen ultrasound showed a single nodule in the liver, which raised the issue of differential diagnosis with a metastasis from rectal cancer. After surgical removal of the nodule, histology revealed a primary B cell, stage IE follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma, confined to the liver; indeed, no foci of lymphoma were found elsewhere in the body.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / drug therapy
  • Adenocarcinoma / pathology*
  • Biopsy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Liver Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell / diagnosis*
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell / drug therapy
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell / pathology
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / diagnosis*
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / drug therapy
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / pathology
  • Rectal Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Rectal Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Treatment Outcome