Primary gastric lymphoma associated with human T-cell leukaemia virus I

We herein report a case of primary gastric lymphoma with reference to human T-cell leukaemia virus type I. A 65-year-old male was admitted to our hospital for emergency treatment of abdominal pain and haematemesis. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy on admission revealed a disintegrated tumour with bleeding in the cardia. Total gastrectomy with distal pancreatomy and splenectomy was performed. The patient soon fell into cachexic condition due to early recurrence of abdominal lymph nodes and a rapid increase of the tumour, and died 80 days after operation. The pathological diagnosis was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with diffuse large cell type and T-cell lineage. The patient was serologically positive for human T-cell leukaemia virus type I (HTLV-I) antibody. Southern blot analysis on the resected tumour tissue showed a monoclonal integration of HTLV-I pro-viral DNA. These results confirmed the current case to be primary adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma of the stomach.