Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with pregnancy is rare. To date, only 1 case in which lymphoma was diagnosed and treated during pregnancy, with normal pregnancy outcome, has been reported. We describe another case where life-threatening, diffuse, poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma was diagnosed during the 13th week of pregnancy. Combination chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, bleomycin, and prednisone) resulted in remission and a healthy full-term infant was born.
Cancer 491679-1682. 1980. ON-HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA associated with preg-N nancy is rarely reported. In a recent article in Cancer, Ortega16 reported what he believed to be the first case of a pregnant woman with lymphoma in which combination chemotherapy resulted in remission of the disease with a normal pregnancy outcome. In a review of the medical literature, we found 13 case reports in which non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was diagnosed during pregnancy ,4,6-8,10.12-14,16,17,21,22
Maternal death, prematurity, or therapeutic abortion was the outcome in all but 2 of these cases. These 2 are: 1) the case described by OrtegaI6 (the only one successfully treated for the lymphoma during pregnancy); and 2) a case, diagnosed during the 33rd week of pregnancy and treated nine days post-partum.22 We wish to report another case in which remission induction of lymphoma during early pregnancy was achieved with combination chemotherapy with a normal pregnancy outcome.
Case Report
In September 1977, a 26-year-old white woman, 13-weeks pregnant, was admitted to our service as an emergency case with severe respiratory distress and a superior vena cava syndrome due to a retrosternal tumor. A tracheostomy was