PRIMARY EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS-RELATED NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA OF THE PLEURAL CAVITY FOLLOWING LONG-STANDING TUBERCULOUS EMPYEMA

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of the pleural cavity have been descri bed mostly in Japan. We report a case of high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymp homa (immunoblastic type) of the pleural cavity occurring in a nonimmu nocompromised patient 55 years after an artificial pneumothorax was pe rformed for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Immunohistochemic al study revealed a B phenotype (CD 20), and an in situ hybridization detected small nuclear RNAs encoded by Epstein-Barr virus in most lymp homatous cells. A link between primary pleural lymphoma and the local long-standing chronic inflammation, inducing a clonal transformation o f Epstein-Barr virus-infected immortalized B lymphocytes, is suspected .