Primary breast lymphoma Report of a case

Abstract

Primary lymphoma of the breast is an unusual kind of located extranodal lymphoma, with an incidence from 1.7 % to 2.2% of extranodal lymphomas, and from 0.04 % to 0.50 % of the mammary glands malignant lesions of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the breast grows rapidly, with dissemination to the bone marrow and central nervous system, generally of short over-life. The case presented is the one of a female, white patient, aged 65 years who told she perceived a tumor in her right breast of 3 cm diameter. At the physical examination a tumor was noted, painful at palpation, located in the higher external quadrant. Axillary adenopathy were not found at palpation. The patient did not reported specific symptoms. An ultrasound diagnosis was carried out showing a hypo-echoic image of 2.5 cm, with non well-defined margins. An irregular, high density mass was found in a mammographic study; it was classified as BIRADS 4C. The diagnosis of malignant lymphoma was not clinically suspected. The patient underwent a surgery, and a frozen section biopsy was positive. A total wide mastectomy was carried out and its pathological inform was:  poorly-differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma without axillary nodal metastasis (0/29).  Polychemotherapy associated to radiotherapy was used as adjuvant treatment. Currently, after a 13-years follow-up, the patient did not relapsed and is still alive.