Extranodal diffuse large B cell lymphoma of maxillary sinus presenting as a palatal ulcer

A multitude of disease processes ranging from periodontitis to malignancies can lead to formation of solitary ulcer on the palate. Hence solitary ulcers of palate can often be a challenging one to diagnose. We report an interesting case of a diffuse large B cell lymphoma of the maxillary sinus which perforated the palatal bone and presented clinically as a palatal ulcer. Initially the lesion manifested as a small ill-defined swelling in the posterior palatal slope in relation to 24and25 which were mobile and hence was erroneously diagnosed as chronic periodontal abscess. This paper is intended to stress the relevance of including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the differential diagnosis of solitary palatal ulcers as it may be often misdiagnosed as more common reactive or inflammatory lesions.