MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA OF THE GINGIVA - MR EVALUATION

PURPOSE: Our purpose was to document the MR imaging findings of malign ant lymphoma of the gingiva, METHODS: Five patients with histologicall y proved malignant lymphoma of the gingiva were studied by MR imaging. The MR images were analyzed for tumor size, extent, and signal charac teristics, bone involvement, and associated cervical lymph node enlarg ement. RESULTS: Clinical examination tended to underestimate the size of lymphomatous lesions. The signal intensity of the lesions was isoin tense to hyperintense relative to muscle on noncontrast T1-weighted im ages and showed variable contrast enhancement patterns. On T2-weighted images, signal intensity was isointense to hypointense relative to th e oral mucosa, In one case, the mass extended to the submandibular spa ce; in the remaining cases, the masses were limited to the gingiva and the adjacent bone. MR imaging revealed that gingival lymphomatous mas ses were broad-based along the mandible or maxilla and eroded through the cortex into the marrow space, but the cortex was still recognizabl e. No nodal involvement was noted in any of the patients with malignan t lymphoma. CONCLUSION: The signal characteristics of gingival lymphom a overlap those of other tumors. The cortex separating marrow involvem ent from the broad-based gingival mass generally appears to be permeat ed with small erosions but is still recognizable.