Aim: To study the clinical and pathological characteristics of the lacrimal sac lymphoma, which is rare but it is the major type of non-epithelial malignant tumor in the lacrimal sac region.
Methods: Sixty-four cases of malignant lacrimal sac tumors in our hospital from 1986 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Eight cases of lacrimal sac lymphoma were carefully reviewed.
Results: There were five mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas, one diffused large B-cell lymphoma, one NK/T cell lymphoma, and one mantle cell lymphoma. All eight patients represented symptoms of epiphora with swelling in the lacrimal sac for a certain period of time and showed no signs of systemic involvement at the first time of clinical visits. They had received either chemotherapy or radiotherapy after surgery. Long-term follow-up (from 11 to 220mo) showed that, except one patient with MALT lymphoma died for unknown reasons at 104mo after surgery, the other 7 patients were all alive with no signs of local recurrence, neither in other organs.
Conclusion: Non-epithelial malignant tumors of the lacrimal sac are rare and lymphoma is the major subtype.
Keywords: lacrimal drainage apparatus; lacrimal sac tumor; lymphoma; mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma; non-epithelial lacrimal sac tumor.
International Journal of Ophthalmology Press.