Intestinal lymphoma: a case report

Primary intestinal lymphoma is rare representing about 0.5% of all colonic malignancies. It can be classified into two principal categories: follicular B cell lymphomas and intestinal T cell lymphomas. Other intestinal diseases are very important such as immunoproliferative small intestinal disease (IPSID), a prelymphomatous process, and MALT lymphomas, caused by infection of Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori). We present a 79-year-old male patient which presented with abdominal pain in the upper parts of abdomen of four months' duration, colic timpanists, tenderness, distention, weight loss. Sometimes the abdominal pain decreased expelling diarrheal dejections. Histological and immune-histochemical tests on bioptic piece helped to reach the diagnosis of lymphoma but only after histological investigation on operative piece was made the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma. This case report shows that an accurate diagnosis, the evaluation of the extension and the presence of particular infections and/or co morbidities (H. Pylori positive, age, performance status) are fundamental to decide the therapeutic protocol.