Richter's syndrome presenting as a facial swelling.
In a small percentage of cases, patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia undergo a preterminal dedifferentiation or transformation of their disease with the development of diffuse histiocytic lymphoma. The transformation, which is often accompanied clinically by pyrexia, lymphadenopathy, weight loss, and abdominal pain, has been termed Richter's syndrome. A case is reported wherein the patient came with a facial swelling that was initially thought to be due to dental infection. Richter's syndrome does not appear to have been reported in the oral surgery literature previously.
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004487:Edema / Q000473:pathology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000473:pathology*; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000473:pathology*; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000473:pathology*; D013577:Syndrome