[Lennert's lymphoma and glomerulonephritis]

A 49-year-old man noticed a swelling below the left ear. The histological diagnosis was chronic lymphadenitis with a small cell epithelioid cell reaction. A short time later he developed oedema of the legs, proteinuria and elevated serum creatinine levels (1.89 mg/dl). Renal biopsy showed mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis. Over the next two years the tumour in the left side of the neck gradually increased in size. Computed tomography showed a space-occupying lesion 5 x 7 cm in the vicinity of the left parotid gland, with evidence of infiltrative growth. Histological examination of the tumour after removal revealed epithelioid cell tissue with numerous lymphocytes, and led to the diagnosis of a lymphoepithelial lymphoma (Lennert's lymphoma), a T-cell lymphoma of low malignancy. Complete remission was achieved after four chemotherapy cycles (COPP schedule) in reduced doses (creatinine concentration 2.09 mg/dl, creatinine clearance 36 ml/min); creatinine clearance subsequently improved to 63 ml/min. Later, however, the tumour recurred and the patient went into terminal renal failure, dying four years after the lymphoma first appeared. The glomerulonephritis may conceivably have been a paraneoplastic phenomenon.