Purpose: To determine whether a definite diagnosis of malignant lymphoma can be made from paraffin-embedded archived orbital specimens by gene rearrangement analysis using microdissection and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Methods: Specimens from four patients with histopathologically diagnosed orbital malignant lymphoma were examined. The malignant cells were microdissected off the paraffin-embedded specimens. DNA was extracted from the cells, and the immunoglobulin heavy chain ( IgH) gene was amplified by PCR. Gene rearrangements were detected by using primers for the third framework (FR3A), the second framework (FR2A), and the complementary determining region 3 (CDR3). Translocation of the B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 ( bcl-2) gene was also examined.
Results: Malignant cells were present on the slides of the paraffin-embedded specimens of three of four cases. The specimens from these three cases showed IgH rearrangements for FR3A, FR2A, and CDR3. A bcl-2-associated translocation was also detected in one case.
Conclusions: Gene rearrangement analysis is applicable to paraffin-embedded archived orbital specimens to confirm a diagnosis of malignant lymphoma. The advantage of this method is that only a small specimen is needed because the detection sensitivity is high.