[Mesenteric B-cell immunoblastoma successfully treated after a long-term preoperative observation]

Diagnostics of abdominal tumours is radically changing. The number of diagnostic laparotomies has decreased, while the role of interventional radiological investigations and diagnostic laparoscopies are increasing. We present a case of a patient who had a mesenteric tumour of unknown origin. He refused any kind of interventional radiological investigation or surgery for 17 mounts. The radiological size and character of the tumour have changed, and clinical symptoms developed during the observation period. After the patient consented to surgery a tumour of a size of 15 x 11 x 9 cm-s was radically excised from the mesentery. The result of histology was B cell type immunoblast lymphoma. Neither pre- nor postoperative investigations verified other manifestations of the lymphoma. Radical chemotherapy was started and 20 month after the operation he is symptom and tumour free. It is our opinion that beside chemotherapy, radical surgery has great importance in successful treatment of solid lymphomas.