Colonoscopic manifestations of primary colorectal lymphoma

Background and Study Aims: Little is known about the colonoscopic manifesta tion of colorectal lymphoma. This article describes the use of colonoscopy for diagnosis of primary colorectal lymphoma, Patients and Methods: We analyzed colonoscopic findings in 13 retrospective ly collected cases of primary colorectal lymphoma diagnosed between 1990 an d 1999 at our hospital. Results: The primary colorectal lymphomas were distinguished into three col onoscopic types: a) the mucosal type, which included six lymphomas (46%), w hich were classified into two subtypes, erosive (two lymphomas) and ulcerat ive (four lymphomas); b) the polypoid type, which included three lymphomas (23%); and c) the massive type, which included four (31%), The proportion o f patients with T-cell lineage lymphoma (5 of 12, 42%) was higher than in p revious studies. Three cases were diagnosed as enteropathy-associated T-cel l (EAT)like lymphoma: one presenting with multicentric ulcerations, one as a massive type and another as a polypoid type, Of those with B-cell lineage lymphoma (7 of 12, 58%), three presented as massive type, two as polypoid type and two as erosive subtype, Conclusions: Based on the analysis of colonoscopic records, we have propose d three main types of primary colorectal lymphoma. An unusually high propor tion of T-cell lineage lymphomas was noted, but as the number of cases was low, further study is still needed for confirmation.