[Primary lymph node infarct and malignant non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Description of a case]

Primary lymph node infarction and malignant non Hodgkin lymphoma. Case report. We describe a case of spontaneous primary lymph node infarction in a patient who had diagnoseable malignant lymphoma on rebiopsy after a period of 35 days. The first node biopsy showed nearly complete homogeneous necrosis with loss of normal architecture and peripheral rim of organizing granulation tissue. A stain for reticulum, however, showed preservation of the nodal reticulum framework. The follow-up biopsy on the same cervical area, approximately one month later, surprisingly showed a large cell lymphoma. Comparison of reticulum stains of this neoplastic node with earlier stains should dispel any doubts that the first lymph node studied was a true case of non-neoplastic infarction. A review of the literature on lymph node infarction is reported.