A Case of Primary Malignant Lymphoma of the Spleen

Abstract

We experienced a case of malignant primary lymphoma of the spleen. The case was a 72-year-old male complaining of poor appetite. Abdominal screening CT revealed a tumor mass of the spleen. Various imaging methods failed to offer the definite diangosis, and laparotomy was carried out. A possible malignant tumor was suspected from perioperative findings. Splenectomy, including lymph node dissection surrounding the hilum of spleen and splenic arteries, and associated excision of tail of pancreas were performed. From histopathological findings, it was definitely diagnosed as malignant lymphoma of duffuse large cell type according to LSG classification. Similar tumor cells were found at lymph nodes of the hilum of spleen, which might be in stage 2 by Ahmann classification. A total of 103 cases of primary malignat lymphoma of the spleen was seen in the Japanese literature so far as we could review. However, many reports did not describe what criteria made the authers diagnose as primarily arising in the spleen. In this report statistical analysis was performed on 61 of the 102 cases which satisfied the diagnosis criteria advocated by Spier and others.