[Contact allergic reactions in the respiratory mucosa. A differential diagnosis with malignant lymphoma]

It is well known that cell-mediated allergic reactions can cause tissue destruction, for example, the tuberculin-like allergic reactions. Moreover, this type of allergy can be the starting point of malignant lymphomas in the sense of the theory of the dysregulative development of malignant lymphomas. After all, the inflammation around the tumour is the expression of cell-mediated defense of the body against the neoplastic cells and corresponds to the same immunologic mechanisms as cell-mediated allergy. Therefore, both are rich in lymphoid cells. That is why they are important diagnostic and differential diagnostic criteria. This is illustrated by two cases with cell-mediated contact allergic reactions in the nose and paranasal sinuses. In one of these cases, the transition to malignant lymphoma had just occurred.