Ascites with peritoneal myeloid metaplasia in a patient with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Peritoneal myeloid metaplasia associated with ascites containing numerous hemopoietic cells in a patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is described. It is suggested that massive infiltration of lymphoma cells into the bone marrow caused marrow failure and compensatory mechanisms supervened leading to myeloid metaplastic implants in the peritoneum associated with ascites as well as in the liver, spleen and lymph nodes. There was also a significant leuko-erythroblastic reaction in the peripheral blood.