Extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma involving the muscles of mastication

Involvement of the skeletal muscle by non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is unusual . The most commonly affected muscles are those of the extremities, pelvis, and gluteal regions; rarely are the muscles in the head and neck involved. We report the clinical, CT, and MR imaging findings in two patients with ex tranodal NHL in the head and neck region involving the muscles of masticati on. One patient was immunocompetent and had lymphoma that arose within the muscles; the other was a patient,vith AIDS who had disseminated disease at diagnosis. In both patients, the involved muscles were isodense with normal muscles on CT scans. On MR images, the infiltrated muscles were isointense with normal muscles on the T1-weighted sequence and hyperintense on the fa st spin-echo T2-weighted sequence, with variable enhancement after administ ration of intravenous contrast material.