A case of primary gastric CD30-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma

Gastric CD30-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma is a very rare disease. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish it from undifferentiated carcinoma, sarcoma and so on. We report here on a case of primary gastric anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. A 50-yr-old woman complained of epigastric pain and severe chest pain for 1 week. The gastroendoscopic examination revealed geographic mucosal irregularities with shallow ulceration at the antrum. She underwent a total gastrectomy. The gross finding of the resected stomach was an 8 x 4.5 cm sized ulceroinfiltrative lesion at the pyloric antrum along the lesser curvature. The microscopic examination revealed diffuse and solid proliferations of large atypical cells with pleomorphic nuclei. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for CD30, vimentin and CD3, and this was a finding compatible with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such reported case in Korea.