Pointers to the diagnosis of gastric lymphoma on computed tomography

The computed tomographic features of 12 patients with primary gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and a further seven patients with gastric involvement by disseminated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been reviewed. In eight of these 19 patients there were clefts within the area of gastric wall involved by lymphoma where oral contrast medium passed to within 2 mm of the serosal surface in and amongst areas of gastric wall thickening (maximal thickness ranging from 18 to 40 mm). In three of these patients some clefts extended beyond the expected margin of the stomach to enter into, and be contained by, a composite soft tissue mass of stomach, spleen and splenic hilar nodes. Awareness of these features, which are in keeping with the known range of macroscopic pathological appearances in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, may help the radiologist to recognize this potentially curable disease.