Ovarian non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: A clinicopathologic study of eight primarycases

Primary (localized) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the ovary is rare. We s tudied eight cases of primary ovarian NHL to better understand the clinicop athologic and immunophenotypic features of these tumors. The patients range d in age from 29 to 62 years (mean 47 years). Pelvic complaints were the mo st common symptoms; however, three of eight neoplasms were discovered incid entally. All tumors were unilateral and Ann Arbor stage IE. The three incid ental NHL were microscopic (largest 1.2 cm), whereas the grossly evident le sions ranged from 7.5 to 20 cm (mean 13.3). Each tumor was classified accor ding to the World Health Organization Classification as follows: diffuse la rge B-cell lymphoma (three cases), follicular lymphoma (two cases), Burkitt lymphoma (one case), T-cell anaplastic large cell lymphoma (one case), and precursor T-lymphoblastic lymphoma (one case). Six tumors were of B-cell l ineage, and two tumors were of T-cell lineage. All three diffuse large B-ce ll lymphomas were positive for BCL-6, two were positive for CD10, and two w ere positive for BCL-2. Estrogen and progesterone receptors were negative i n all NHLs assessed. Patients were treated by various combinations of surge ry, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Clinical follow-up ranged from 1.3 to 1 1.7 years (mean 5.2) and all patients were alive without disease at last fo llow-up. We conclude that most patients with primary ovarian NHL present wi th symptoms attributable to an ovarian mass, but in a subset of patients ov arian NHL may be detected incidentally. With appropriate therapy, patients appear to have a favorable prognosis although follow-up is short for some p atients in this study.