Radiology in primary gastric lymphoma

Upper gastro-intestinal radiographic studies in 19 patients with primary gastric lymphoma (PGL) were reviewed and compared with studies in matched patients with adenocarcinoma. The very large infiltrating tumour (n = 10) was significantly more often found in patients with PGL, whereas the ulcerative lesion was the predominating feature in patients with adenocarcinoma (n = 15). Furthermore a coarse, irregular mucosal pattern and shallow ulcerations were frequently associated with PGL (n = 18). There was no difference in survival time between the two groups of patients. PGL is a rare disease, with two new cases annually in a population of 230 000, and therefore easily misjudged.