Primary Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma of the Lung

Summary

We report on a 57-year-old male presenting with cough and ehest pain as well as a chronic infiltrate in the right posterior basel Segment. Antibiotic treatment had been unsuccessful, CT-guided needle-biopsy and bronchoscopy had failed to forward reliable results. Thus, videothoracoscopic biopsy was performed and histologic diagnosis of a low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was obtained. The tumor was left in situ and single-agent chemotherapy was initiated for reasons which are discussed. Up to now localized pulmonary lymphomas were mainly resected in the course of an exploratory thoracotomy because the disease often could not be diagnosed with certainty previously. It is discussed whether surgical resection is still the best choiee or other treatment modalities should be preferred.

Zusammenfassung

Es wird über einen 57jährigen Patienten mit einem primär extranodalen pulmonalen Lymphom berichtet. Die üblichen Abklärungen (Bronchoskopie, CT-gesteuerte Nadelbiopsie) hatten kein sicheres Resultat ergeben, weshalb eine videothorakoskopische Biopsie durchgeführt wurde, welche die Diagnose eines low grade non-Hodgkin's Lymphom ergab. Der Tumor wurde aus Gründen, die diskutiert werden, in situ belassen und eine Chemotherapie begonnen. Bisher wurden diese Lymphome meist im Rahmen einer Probethorakotomie reseziert und es stellt sich nun die Frage, ob heutzutage vermehrt andere Behandlungsformen zur Anwendung gelangen sollten.

Key words

Primary extranodal lymphoma - Lung - Videothoracoscopic biopsy - Chemotherapy - Radiation therapy