Primary pancreatic lymphoma is exceedingly rare, with fewer than 40 patients reported in the English literature, mostly in single case publications. It comprises under 0.2 per cent of pancreatic tumours in one surgical series, but represents a disease that may be curable even in advanced stages and thus should be distinguished from other pancreatic malignancies. We report on a patient with lymphoma initially presenting in the pancreas in 1978, achieving complete remission (CR) and re-presenting with pancreatic lymphoma 18 years after treatment, with immunohistochemical and molecular studies suggesting recurrence of the original phenotype.