[Primary hepatic lymphoma of MALT-type: a tumor that can simulate a liver metastasis]

Primary hepatic lymphomas are rare tumors. We report a case of a 72 year-old woman with a past history of colonic adenocarcinoma who presented primary hepatic lymphoma of MALT-type. The patient had been operated on 3 years before for colonic adenocarcinoma, pT3N0, revealed by a bowel obstructive syndrome. She had been treated by chemotherapy for 6 months. During the follow-up, the computed tomography-scan (CT-scan) revealed the presence of a not well-demarcated mass in segment III of the liver, measuring 4 cm in diameter. The tumor was hypodense and was not enhanced on dynamic study. The mass was already present on the initial CT-scan. Left lobectomy was performed with the diagnosis of liver metastasis of the colonic adenocarcinoma. Surgical specimen showed a tumor composed of a dense infiltrate of small lymphocytes positive for B-cell markers on immunohistochemistry. The tumor contained reactive lymphoid follicles and there were numerous lympho-epithelial biliary lesions. The patient is alive and free of disease 2 years after the diagnosis. Primary hepatic lymphoma of MALT-type is a low-grade B cell lymphoma. Twenty-five cases had been reported in the literature so far. The patients were 16 females and 9 males, mean age 63.5 years. The pathogenesis is still unclear but half of the patients had a past history of chronic inflammatory liver disease (hepatitis B or C virus infection, ascaris infection, primary biliary cirrhosis) or malignant neoplasm. This tumor has a good prognosis; it is usually limited to the liver and surgical resection cures the patient in most cases.