Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus

✍ Scribed by Mark E. Ludwig; Richard Shaw; Gyula De Suto-Nagy

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1020 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19811201)48:11<2518::aid-cncr2820481131>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

A case is reported in which focal lymphoid hyperplasia (pseudolymphoma) of the stomach preceded by 45 months the development of gastric diffuse lymphocytic lymphoma. Review of the literature discloses only two similar cases reported with satisfactory histopathologic documentation. Analogous cases, in other anatomic sites, of an apparent association between benign and malignant lympoid lesions are reviewed. The cases suggest that occasionally lymphoid hyperplasia of the stomach may precede lymphoma. Lymphoid hyperplasia is not yet considered a consistent precursor of lymphoma.

Cancer 482518-2523,1981.

PECULATION SURROUNDS the possible relationships S between benign lymphoid hyperplasia and malignant lymphoid neoplasia. Although most current authors doubt a consistent etiologic association, sporadic well-documented case reports appear in the literature sufficiently often to tantalize cancer theorists. We report a case in which focal lymphoid hyperplasia (pseudolymphoma) of the stomach preceded by 45 months the development of gastric diffuse lymphocytic lymphoma.

Case Report

A 51-year-old white woman entered the hospital in January 1975, for evaluation of chronic abdominal pain. She described a seven-year history of progressively severe, intermittent, dull, epigastric pain, without radiating qualities or any typical peptic characteristics. She denied all other symptoms of gastrointestinal dysfunction of hemorrhage, and had no constitutional symptoms. The patient worked as a barmaid, consuming liberal quantities of alcohol and tobacco. Her father and brother suffered from duodenal ulcers. Physical examination demonstrated only mild epigastric tenderness. Laboratory evaluation proved entirely normal, including normal cell blood count, hepatic and pancreatic enzymes, and negative stool guaiac.