Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the rectum

Primary rectal lymphoma is a very uncommon disease, therefore, it has received little attention in the literature. Because of their rarity, rectal lymphomas are generally included in the group of large intestine lymphomas.

We report here a case of primary rectal B-cell lymphoma in a 67-year-old woman. The tumor was originally located in the rectum without evidence of any other lymphoma-involved organ. Histological findings revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The clinical stage was IE according to the Ann Arbor system. International prognostic index (IPI) was I (low-intermediate risk). We preferred a non-surgical, organ-sparing treatment which started with chemotherapy followed by radiation. 12 months after the end of therapy, there is no sign of tumor recurrence in our patient.

We suggest that histology-specific multidrug chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy seems to be a therapeutic approach that is appropriate fort this rare tumor.