Primary lymphomas of the lung: morphological, immunohistochemical and clinical features

Sixty-two cases of primary malignant lymphoma of the lung were investigated. Fifty-eight lymphomas were of B- and two of T-cell type. Two cases of high-grade lymphoma could not be further classified. The largest group (43 cases) consisted of low-grade B-cell lymphoma of the bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue. These showed features similar to low-grade B-cell lymphomas of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue of the stomach. The low-grade lymphomas showed a peak occurrence in the sixth decade, the high-grade lymphomas in the seventh decade. Males predominated slightly. Three-quarters of the patients with low-grade B-cell lymphoma of the bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue showed solitary or multiple sharply defined nodules of the lung. The prognosis of the B-cell-derived lung lymphomas without constitutional symptoms was relatively favourable, regardless of whether they were of low- or high-grade malignancy, whereas patients with constitutional symptoms and the two patients with T-cell lymphomas showed a bad prognosis. However, recurrences and metastases in the lung, stomach, lymph nodes and salivary glands were seen in about 46% of the cases of low-grade B-cell lymphoma of the bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue.