LOCAL RECURRENCE OF A PRIMARY PANCREATIC LYMPHOMA 18 YEARS AFTER COMPLETE REMISSION

Primary pancreatic lymphoma is exceedingly rare, with fewer than 40 pa tients reported in the English literature, mostly in single case publi cations. It comprises under 0.2 per cent of pancreatic tumours in one surgical series,(1) but represents a disease that may be curable even in advanced stages and thus should be distinguished from other pancrea tic malignancies. We report on a patient with lymphoma initially prese nting in the pancreas in 1978, achieving complete remission (CR) and r e-presenting with pancreatic lymphoma 18 years after treatment, with i mmunohistochemical and molecular studies suggesting recurrence of the original phenotype. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.