Dr. Hull et al., Histiocytic lymphoma presenting as a testicular tumour and terminating in acute monoblastic leukaemia, J CLIN PATH, 53(10), 2000, pp. 788-790
Citations number
3
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
A 58 year old man presented in 1995 with a swollen testicle. After orchidec
tomy. a diagnosis of poorly differentiated lymphoma was made. Lymphoid, epi
thelial, and seminoma markers were all negative. Six months later he develo
ped a buccal lesion, which was biopsied and reported as a high grade non-Ho
dgkin's lymphoma. It responded completely to chemotherapy but within a year
he developed a forearm swelling, which was biopsied and imprints made befo
re fixation of the material. Immunocytochemistry on the imprints showed pos
itivity with antibodies to CD4, CD68, and muramidase, and the non-specific
esterase cytochemical stain was strongly positive, leading to a diagnosis o
f hue histiocytic lymphoma. Despite further treatment, the patient entered
a terminal acute leukaemic phase, the blasts marking as monoblasts. Review
of all the biopsies, including molecular investigations and further immunoh
istochemistry studies performed retrospectively on the original biopsy, dem
onstrated that this was the same malignant cell Line throughout, and we con
clude that this is a case of histiocytic lymphoma, initially presenting as
a testicular tumour and terminating in acute monoblastic leukaemia. it diag
nosis of histiocytic lymphoma should be considered when lymphoid markers ar
e negative in an apparent lymphoma, but should not be made without recourse
to appropriate immunophenotypic and molecular studies.