Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: To the Editor: Primary tonsillary lymphoma accounts for less than 1% of head and neck malignancies.Tonsillectomy is used to mainly establish the diagnosis and can be performed for localized small lesions.In general, the patients are treated by chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy [1,2].We present a 23-year-old woman who was referred to our ENT clinic with asymmetric tonsillary enlargement and acute bleeding.Tonsillectomy was performed.In paraffin sections; a tumor composed of large lymphoid cells that were positive for CD20, bcl-2, and p53 by immunohistochemistry was identified.Ki-67 index was roughly 80% (Figure 1).Polymerase chain reaction for immunoglobulin gene rearrangements was performed using DNA extracted from paraffin-embedded tissue and showed a single band indicating the presence of a clonal B cell proliferation.A diagnosis of ''Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma'' was rendered.No clinical or radiological evidence for tumor involvement in any other site was identified and the patient was accepted as Stage I clinically.The patient did not accept any further treatment.The patient was followed periodically every 6 months.Recurrence or systemic involvement was not observed during the 5-year-follow-up.This case is unusual since only tonsillectomy was curative.In general, radiation therapy is considered the primary mode of therapy for localized disease in tonsil lymphomas (stages I and II) [3,4].In one study, Jelic et al. reported a cure rate of 80% among their stage I NHL patients, who they followed without any therapy.In light of their experience as well as our observation, therapy options for localized NHL cases should be re-evaluated.
Source: American Journal of Hematology
DOI: 10.1002/ajh.20483
Institution: Saint Louis University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2012889194