MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMA ORIGINATING IN THE JEJUNUM OF A LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP CASE OF PROTEIN-LOSING ENTEROPATHY

A 50-year-old female patient, who had been followed for 15 years for p rotein-losing enteropathy, was hospitalized due to epigastric pain. Ex amination on admission revealed that the patient was in the sub-ileus state. On the 26th day after admission, she complained of severe abdom inal pain and shortly after she went into shock. The emergency laparot omy documented intestinal perforation and a tumor. The perforated site was right at the middle of tumor. The histological and histochemical studies identified the tumor as malignant lymphoma of B lymphocyte lin eage. As far as we know, this is the third case of malignant lymphoma occurring in the jejunum in a patient with protein-losing enteropathy in Japan. The possible relationship between lymphomas and protein-losi ng enteropathy is discussed.