Patient: Female, 91 FINAL DIAGNOSIS: Low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma Symptoms: Recurrent epigastric and right upper quadrant dyscomfort Medication: Rituximab Clinical Procedure: esophagogastroduodenoscopy • gastric biopsy Specialty: Gastroenterology.
Objective: Unusual or unexpected effect of treatment.
Background: Mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma can occur in any extranodal organ or tissue, stomach being the common site. Most of the gastric MALT lymphomas are related to chronic H. pylori infection. H. pylori negative gastric MALT lymphoma is relatively uncommon and usually treated with a short course of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery.
Case report: Herein, we present a case of an elderly female with H. pylori negative, low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma that was successfully treated with a short course of rituximab.
Conclusions: This case report emphasizes that rituximab monotherapy can be an effective treatment for H. pylori negative low grade gastric MALT lymphoma especially in an elderly patient where surgery or radiotherapy may not be appropriate.
Keywords: Mucosa Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT); chemotherapy; gastric lymphoma; radiation; rituximab; surgery.