INCIDENTAL EARLY DETECTION OF A SPLENIC MARGINAL ZONE LYMPHOMA BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION ANALYSIS OF PARAFFIN-EMBEDDED TISSUE

Splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) most commonly presents with sple nomegaly and stage IV disease. To our knowledge, there have been only two reported cases of SMZL without associated splenomegaly; one was de tected incidentally after a bicycle accident. This previously reported case represented an early-stage SMZL with monoclonality confirmed by immunohistochemistry. We report a case of early-stage SMZL detected in cidentally following a motor vehicle accident; monoclonality was confi rmed by polymerase chain reaction analysis of paraffin-embedded tissue owing to the inability of confirmation by immunohistochemical techniq ues. We describe our findings and emphasize the importance of recogniz ing early stages of SMZL in incidental splenectomies by polymerase cha in reaction analysis of paraffin-embedded tissue. Frozen tissue is not generally available in such cases.