Lymphomas in solid organ transplantation

The purpose of this investigation was to identify and characterize abdominal lymphomas as they occur in a large solid-organ-transplant population.

A large transplant population was isolated, and all patients developing an abdominal lymphoma were identified. These patients were further characterized after review of their medical records and radiologic examinations.

Twenty-eight (1%) of 2925 patients developed lymphoma following transplantation. Of these 28 patients, 14 developed abdominal manifestations of disease. Examples of the wide variety of abdominal manifestations of posttransplant lymphoma are presented. Most of these patients had positive titers for Epstein-Barr virus and were treated with cyclosporin as a part of their immunotherapy. The majority of patients died secondary to this aggressive disease process.

The development of lymphoma following solid organ transplantation is more common than in the general population. One-half of the patients in our study population developed abdominal manifestations of this disease.