Malignant lymphoma of the breast: a review of 13 cases

Thirteen cases of primary malignant lymphoma of the breast are reported from a 15-year retrospective review of records. The ages ranged from 19 to 75 years. One patient had nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease and 12 had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Eleven patients were treated with local excision, followed by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or both. One patient had mastectomy and chemotherapy, and one had local excision only. Four patients died 6 months to 7 years after initial diagnosis. One patient was alive and with disease 5 years later. The remainder were alive and free of disease 24 months to 9 years after presentation. Prognosis depended on the clinical stage and histologic grade of the lesion. Five-year survival was 72 per cent, which was slightly better than that observed in mammary carcinoma.