Primary hepatic Burkitt's lymphoma with chronic hepatitis C

The liver is an uncommon primary site for malignant lymphoma, and primary h epatic lymphoma has been found to make up 0.4% of all extranodal lymphomas. We report a rare case of a 75-year-old Japanese male with primary hepatic Burkitt's lymphoma, according to both the revised European-American Lymphom a classification and the new World Health Organization classification. As n ot only histological findings but also immunological features are deemed es sential in the diagnosis of Burkitt's lymphoma, the previous 7 cases of pri mary hepatic Burkitt's lymphoma were not fully evaluated, using these crite ria. As far as we know, this is the first case of primary hepatic Burkitt's lymphoma with typical features on histological, immunological and cytogene tical analysis. He had a history of chronic hepatitis C over several decade s with subsequent liver cirrhosis. From our review of the literature and ou r case, the relationship between hepatitis C virus infection and the develo pment of primary hepatic Burkitt's lymphoma remains obscure. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.