[A case of malignant lymphoma after renal transplantation]

A case of a primary brain malignant lymphoma after renal transplantation and immunosuppressive therapy is reported. A 41-year-old male patient had been treated with 125 mg/day of azathioprine and 10 mg/day of prednisolone after renal transplantation. He had also been suffering from various infectious diseases. Multiple brain tumors were found and diagnosed as having B-cell, diffuse large cell type malignant lymphoma. In spite of moderate response to irradiation, he died of pneumonia. The anti-Epstein Barr virus antibodies changed from a negative to a positive level after renal transplantation and they increased markedly after brain malignant lymphoma had been found. The number of T- and B-lymphocytes also decreased markedly at that time. So the Epstein-Barr virus was suspected to be the cause of the malignant lymphoma.