LYMPHOBLASTIC LYMPHOMA OF THE PRE-B PHENOTYPE WITH CUTANEOUS PRESENTATION

Lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) is a neoplasm of lymphoid precursors pres enting usually as acute leukemia with bone marrow and peripheral blood involvement. Primary cutaneous involvement of LBL with a pre-B phenot ype has to be considered an extremely uncommon occurrence, accounting for less than 1% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. A child with an LBL inv olving a single cutaneous manifestation of 6 months duration is presen ted. At the time of presentation, the lesion consisted of a rapidly en larging deeply infiltrated tumor on the upper arm. Immunophenotypic an alysis performed an paraffin-embedded and frozen tissue sections revea led 2 pre-B phenotype of the tumor cells. Similar results were obtaine d from lymph node and bone marrow biopsy specimens. After 26 months of polychemotherapy, the patient is currently in complete remission. We wish to add this case to the current literature of LBL with cutaneous involvement, emphasizing the importance of a correct diagnosis and the excellent response to the therapeutic regimen.